Eagle in Flux- Going With the Flow
One of the unseen challenges with doing sculpture is keep the subject in balance. This requires eliminating lean in the vertical plane. So proper orientation of the object is one of the most important concerns from the beginning. If the subject does not start out in balance it will very likely not end up in balance. So when starting I work from an imaginary vertical line through the center of, in this case, an imaginary eagle.
Flux and Flow
When working the wood off (carving), these two imaginary’s are in flux, as if floating in a void. They can’t float for long though because I am working in a finite void. So the two must at some point combine and solidify into a single entity. And that must fit within the dimensions of the wood I have selected for representing it. This usually happens when I determine the head position as in the case of this eagle. Once that is established, I a have a somewhat defined point from which I can devise the rest of the body to support the head… in balance. In short, everything is in flux until the center point of the head has been fixed, and then everything else flows from there.
This Image Sequence
When you watch the sequence you will notice the very first picture the beak of the eagle is established. The sets up the direction the bird is looking and the position of the head in vertical. This “allows” me to “see” better where the rest of the body has to be in order to connect to the head. The vertical center-point of the bird can shift slightly as the body is carved but it remains fairly static throughout completion. All of this is made more difficult when working from a piece of wood that is asymmetrical as this branch is.
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