5 and counting...

October 22, 2007

I spent the weekend at the studio finishing off the carving on the blocks/coffin sides. Boy is my elbow sore!

Saturday morning, I received a good omen, on the wings of a surprise visitor. As I was unlocking the street side door leading up to the studio the Lightboy spotted a giant moth on the wall. I figured it was trying to warm itself up in the morning sun before attempting flight. It had a great mottled look that helped it blend into the brick wall. When it flexed we discovered bright pink accents hiding beneath its wings. We walked it onto our fingers and brought it upstairs to introduce it to the butterfly woman. Later in the day we took it back down to where we found it. We were surprised to see it still clinging to the wall of the building many hours later.

The rest of the day was spent finishing up the emerging man panel and starting in on the other 54” long panel. As I worked I realized that some more transitional marks were needed to unify the over all image once all the panels are viewed together. I lay out the wood on the floor, end to end, to get a feel for it all and made some adjustments.

The Lovely L and miracle boy came by in the afternoon. Laurie pounded out the papel picado (cut tissue paper) images from a template I had printed out. The result looks fantastic! I can’t wait to see them all strung together and hanging.

I worked late into the night trying to get as much done as possible.

Sunday morning the Lightboy and I headed to the studio once again. I was determined to finish the rest of the side panels off. (The coffin lid is going to have to wait. That thing is going to be a beast.) I made good time with some breaks here in there to give my aching elbow and sore palm a rest. Lightboy leant a hand by dremmeling some texture into some areas of the big panel while I started the last, and smallest, panel. The last panel I had to work on is the tree of life portion that will go at the foot of the coffin. The rest of the day was spent cleaning that up and carving away late into the night. Aside from a couple of small portions, the coffin panels are ready to print. Now that will be another story…