Daphne got most of my studio time again this week, and the work moved to a part of her I had been putting off: the hand at the base.
The hand is partially carved now. The fingers are separated into their own grooved forms under the lowest sweep, and the thumb is started at the top, though it is not separated yet — the defining line still has to come. I have not decided where the fingers go from here. They may turn into leaves, or they may feed into one of the magic sweeps. I am leaving that open until I have lived with the hand a little longer.
Two smaller cuts mattered this week too. I took about an inch off the branch on her left, and I may take more. And I started the leaves on her chest, where the two major branches meet. Those leaves are the start of the change spreading forward — the transformation reaching her front, not just her back.
There is one spot I am still studying, and that is the cheek. From the eye toward the mouth, the cheek reads a little flat, like a plane instead of a hill. Stone cannot come forward once it is cut, so the fix, if there is one, is the other way around: the eye may need to sit deeper into the skull, so the cheek below it can keep its roundness. I am going to look at her myself and see whether I see the same thing before I touch it.
At home in the evenings, the mouse-and-gears head keeps moving. Three of the five gears in the head are carved, two to go, and there are three more gears in the same stone as the mouse — round so far, teeth not yet carved. Sanding comes after that.
The first bronze is home now — "Corrupted Justice," cast number one of eight — and the second cast is still at the foundry. The response to it online has been good, and it has brought a few new people to the work, which I appreciate.
This afternoon I deliver two pieces to the Cressman Center for the Louisville Visual Art Open Studio Show: "Unseen Process" and "Silenced Speech." The reception is Friday, November 13, from 5 to 7, and the Open Studio Weekend is November 14 and 15 at Kore Gallery, where I will be carving on Daphne live. If you come by, that is the piece to watch.
More next week.
