Hidden in the Block

Because I do so much work in wood, not many people know that I also love carving stone. It is difficult to find reasonably priced, workable stone. It's always struck me as one of life's weirder ironies that sculptor's blocks are sold by the pound. Every now and again, I do get my hands on a decent block. In this case my younger sister Sarah gave me a few blocks of green soapstone for Christmas several years back. Incidentally, Sarah is an amazing illustrator who keeps a blog called Sarah Draws Things, in which she appropriately enough, posts things that she draws. Visit it. Trust me. You will not be disappointed.  Pictured here is one of the blocks she gave me along with the knife with which I did most of the carving. It used to be one of my favorite wood knives, now it's my favorite stone knife. For the record, this block still remains uncarved. It is not a before shot of my sculpture. I never seem to think of that sort of thing ahead of time. Anyway, the stone sat on my shelf for years until I finally saw the form in it. It's very difficult to talk about my working process without sounding a bit mystical. All I'll say here for now is that Michelangelo was entirely right when he said that the statue already exists inside the block,waiting to be released . I can't explain how or why this is so, it just is. Here is what I found in the stone. 

She stands about 3 inches tall. The dark spots are pyrite deposits. She looks a bit skeptical about them.

 I polished the stone with a drop or two of oil. This gives the surface a pleasant sheen and accents the natural color of the soapstone. It also makes this piece very difficult to photograph.

 There is something very appealing about foxes. They seem to turn up in the local folklore of anywhere that they grace with their presence

Whether they are called Madra Rua, Kitsune, to Reynard, foxes always are portrayed as wily and seem to be perpetually up to some sort of mischief !

 Recently in Jordan, Archaeologists have uncovered some of the earliest graves yet found. The real surprise was that buried alongside people, in a manner similar to dogs in later sites, were fox skeletons.

 This might mean that one of the first animals we ever tried to domesticate as pets were foxes!

National Geographic recently had an article about a genetic experiment in Russia where foxes were selectively bred for docility. 13-15 generations later, They successfully bred foxes that are as tame as cats and dogs. If you had thousands of dollars to spend, you could actually have a pet fox!

 As much as I'd  love to own a fox, I think some animals are meant to stay wild. I like the idea of the clever, adaptable fox, out there somewhere wild and free.

...and finally, here is a shot of the finished piece next to the uncarved block and knife to give you a sense of scale. I'd love to hear what you think of her.