Post #267072 by Tamapoutini on Wed, Nov 15, 2006 11:34 PM

Eureka!!! The Ancients bestowed their blessing last night...

Following a discussion with Paipo a few days ago I have been doing a little experimenting & given my approach to carving a bit of a shake-up.

Our discussion was about you Benz; specifically we were commenting on how you manage to achieve such amazing results with only minimal drawing on whatever piece you are working on. In comparison, I know we are both very fussy about getting our designs 'just so' before commencing a carving. This is a very time consuming route & one that has always left me envious of the lucky few who can really 'see' into a form without the necessity of drawing/redrawing/redrawing, etc...

So throwing caution into the wind, I set about carving a new tiki, picked up my big fat 'vivid' pen and drew the roughest of sketches before starting... (damn, wish I'd thought to take pics from the start, but it really was an exercise in breaking out of such careful planning :lol: )

I just took to it with the tools & didnt stop until about this point...

...when it bacame time to add some detail. So far I was flying! Saved about half my roughout time & was feeling GOOD! Instead of carefully 'delineating' each element as usual, it was all about CARVING. Just letting go, seeing what needed doing & just feeling my way, via the tools.

*Hope youre watching Duddy, this was a major Eureka-moment like I was telling you about a while back. They apparently keep on coming even after 5 years of carving every day!

(what?? carving facial detail with NO guidelines?? unheard of..!)

Managed to put a bit of extra depth into it (at the expence of the back which was left pretty flat -Im going to have another go but start with a good thick chunk of stone. See if I can get that big belly to stand out...)

Woke up this morning to find I had sort of slipped back into my normal way of thinking(?), which is probably a better mindset for the nitty-gritty detail. But I do believe that I went through a major breakthrough in my studies last night & my roughouts may never be the same!

*All of this is pretty subtle stuff & you may not even notice anything different about this particular piece..? I know what Im talking about anyway... :lol:

A fair way to go yet & Ill probably have to put him on hold for a few days & get on with some other stuff...

(KTD: Slight delay as I need to cut some stone, but once Im rolling, Ill stick with this one. Thanks for your patience)

Happy carving all! T3