profile carving

[Pwwhitley@zzzzzzz]

In a message dated 10/27/2005 11:39:19 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
georgergraham@----------- writes:
I'm  trying to keep a low profile.

With George keeping a 'low profile' and Clive getting 'bah' relief it's
enough to drive us all to drink.  But before we start carving up each other  maybe
we should say that there are as many techniques to carving as there are
carvers...we could try them all if there were world enough and time, but at my
back I hear....

I want to recommend a book that has served me well over the years, 'The
Natural Way to Draw' by Kimon Nicolaides who taught for 15 years at the Art
Students League in NYC.  As the title says it is 'drawing' specific, but it
relates to this discussion especially the exercises on contour drawings in  general
and the 'right angle contour' specifically.  Looking at a model you  draw not
what you see but what you would see if you were viewing the model from  90
degrees to the right (or left).  Clive, this is how it is possible to  see a
negative contour in profile.  Another way is to visualize the space  itself rather
than the stone.

Obviously, getting stone dust on your hands means you are involved in the
process.  If you merely produce a blueprint for others to do the  carving...or
even a set of digital references to guide a machine...or even a  general
description of some potential project that is never executed...you still  are
directly involved in a process.  There is room for each and personally  I think the
more the merrier.

"The supreme misfortune is when theory outstrips performance."  --  Leonardo
da Vinci

Philip Whitley