DENALI - Phase 2

DENALI - PHASE 2

January 18, 2000

Prior to picking up hammer and chisel, it is necessary to understand the planes or shapes within the composition and how they interact.

When a live model is used for a three dimensional or relief sculpture, it is a little easier to observe the planes in different light conditions. The shadows reveal the forms, and different sources of light reveal the forms in three dimensions. Unfortunately, the image that I am working with for this piece is only that. It is two dimensional and small, so the details are not very clear. Fortunately, I have two other pictures of the mountain with different lighting conditions and slightly different angles of view. After laboriously comparing the images and observing the main image under a magnifying lamp, I am reasonably certain about the forms within the overall shape of the mountain.

I have laid out the basic planes on the marble (see image below), creating the shapes from templates cut from the enlarged photocopy image. I have a second photocopy enlargement on which I have also marked the basic shapes with corresponding numbers and letters, so that I don't mix up the cut out bits during the carving process.

This part of the process was far more time consuming than I expected, but it is very cold outside :), and it turned out to be very necessary.

While I was studying the image under the magnifying lamp the combination of dots and colours popped out every so often and created a three dimensional effect. I love staring at those computer generated patterns that reveal a 3-D image, if you blur your vision just right - and I was surprised to see the same thing happen here. In fact, sometimes areas of colour that appeared to exist within a single plane, and therefore created a uniform shape to be carved, turned out to be two distinctly different planes. This effected the overall outlines. Lines drawn to represent a ridge changed to reflect a dip or rise that wasn't obvious in the photograph. In one instance, what I thought was a cloud, turned out to be a second peak to the left and behind the summit.

I suspect that this 3-D principle only applies to images that have been altered for magazine printing - but who knows? However, I am reasonably certain that the lines deliniating the planes are accurate now. Certainly, they are as accurate now as they are going to be! :)

Why so finicky on the details, you might ask, when many details may lost in later stylization?

The details of the actual thing are like the skeleton of the composition. They are a starting point. Without the details, the actual thing is lost, not enhanced, in the stylization.

I want to understand the shape of the thing in three dimensions in my head, so that I can visualize and manipulate the image over and over, refining the work of art mentally, before the work commences.

If a work makes use of forms or images from previous works, the process is much easier because the reference material is already upstairs. But for new things it is necessary to start from scratch each time, and that takes time.

The comparison can be made to artists in other disciplines: a dancer learns a dance until it becomes a part of their body, so they can dance without thinking, free to invest the movements with expression and life. A singer or musician make take a year (according to one famous teacher) to make a difficult piece a part of themselves, and so perform with expression and life.

Visual artists are in the same boat. New images or forms take time to incorporate within the consciousness of the artist, before a true expression is possible. Before it is possible to bring life to a work or a work to life! That is why original work is hard and time consuming. Hours of thought, feeling and decision are spent before each stroke of the brush or swing of the hammer.

Perhaps that is why repetition is employed as a device by many visual artists. It is possible through the repetition of themes, images and forms to develop and deepen those themes, images and forms. The pitfall to avoid is a repetition, especially of a successfull theme, image or form, which is an easy copying of oneself.

Till next time,

Shane

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