Darwin's Skull

Still doing more building work than artwork (my new bathroom is looking great though!) But managed to buy some more lino & do the second stage of the Darwin idea. Hopefully it will come to fruition tomorrow. Haven't even inked it for an artist's proof yet.

Chapbook start — cover, first page

Had workers in yesterday helping me put in the new bathroom, & so didn't get anything done on the chapbook. I did, however, work on it all day today. I finished the cover & the first pages with a lino cut, & drawing (the latter, not pictured).

I have been perusing the book more closely & am finding it fascinating. It was compiled by top scientists of the day, 7 years before Darwin published Origin of Species. They speak of the world, & the animals in it, within a Christian context. Making mention, for instance, of  "The creator." Unthinkable in today's scientific circles.

I have also had a chance to look at the etchings with a magnifying lens, they are of the highest quality, & the coloured ones are painted by hand. If I had looked at them better before starting, I might not have found the hubris to turn them to my use. I will keep the second volume inviolate for my bookshelves.

ChaPBoOk!

Today, Michael introduced us to our next project, a chapbook. A project I can get my teeth into over a period of time long enough to do something involved. Yipee! As Michael spoke, my mind crowded with ideas. I was glad to see that none of the examples he showed us on screen, or the samples he showed us in the print room, touched on any of my own concepts. Now I thrill at the thought of the ideas as yet unborn that will occur to me over the next ten weeks.

I skipped my creative writing society meeting in order to catch the shops still open. I have just spent the last couple of hours scrounging the second-hand shops, & was rewarded for my toils with something which I think provides a perfect canvas to begin work on. The History of Animals published, 1852. That is, MDXXXLII! (First edition: 1774) I'm going to get to work immediately.

Clay maquette

Worked up a rough from my drawings, in Kevin's workshop, to reference when sculpting the wood

Possibilities

Sketching some possible poses for my first sculpture

Wood sculpture, first day

I found an interesting little business that makes models. Mostly 3D printed things for oil rigs & ships & suchlike, but also hand-turned things out of wood. They have a small store of a range of naturally-dried (not kiln dried) woods of which Steva was gracious enough to sell me a nice length of Yew at a reasonable price. His Yew, & Elm, & Burl, & Maple, among others, have been sitting on shelves for nine years.

By the time I got my 20 kilo bit of wood to Gray's I had walked it for four kilometers on my shoulder.

After wasting time on a CCS lecture which didn't take place, much like last week, I went to see Malcolm in the wood construction workshop. He gave me a few sadly neglected & rusted wood gouges, a stone, & some oil. I spent five hours sharpening a few to get started with.