By way of a diversion from my on-going Green Man project, I have been carving a design inspired by the triskele-like designs on the Newgrange Tomb entrance stone, onto a mandolin. I first stripped back the original sunburst finish to the bare wood, before carving the design using a Dremel tool.
The surface was then dyed (English Light Oak) before being polished using beeswax. I feel the mandolin now has a well-used, almost antique look to it.
Having taken a photograph of the tin can model of the modern-day Green Man I developed, I loaded it into the ‘Sketch Book ‘ drawing app on the iPad. I then drew around what I considered to be the most important lines of the image and filled in the shapes with blocked colours. I thus created a ‘logo’ styled image, changing the colours easily using the Fill tool in the app.
Working on the premise that the original, ancient Green Man was a symbol of fertility, I have developed a range of modern day symbols that reflect the places that people meet today,
Having first attached the Green Man image to a piece of green netting, I wrapped it around a tree in Canklow Woods (ancient woodland) at Boston Castle in Rotherham.
A tree ‘wrap’ I am currently working on. The ‘wrap’ is approximately one metre by two metres and sculpted out of corrugated cardboard. I am intending to fix it to a net backing (to prevent it falling apart – it’s a bit delicate!) before wrapping it around a suitable tree. Ideally, it would be fabricated in metal, but a lack of funding means this is not possible at the moment.
Latest addition to there Modern-Day Green man series – one made from a discarded Guinness can, the other from a very appropriate Carlsberg can. Note the ring-pull eyes!
Further exploration into bringing ancient forms and symbols into a modern setting – the Green Man, ancient symbol of fertility, fabricated out of an old coke can and ‘metalised’ cardboard. The concepts are relevant to every society, ancient or modern and, as such, I am attempting to bring them up-to-date.
Completed Green Man carving with all faces intertwined. During the making, it became apparent that it might serve as a tea light holder – a welcome addition to any Pagan altar?
Word-tower: Play, Skip, Leap, Jump, Rest
Words of playfulness and wellbeing, again intentionally made in a geometric font, apart from “Rest” which is the bottom form, in a softer font (though unfortunately hidden amongst the undergrowth) and acting as the foundation for all the others. As with the previous piece, “Statistics Manipulate Truths”, I wanted the word-tower to be something that might be ‘discovered’ perhaps by people walking their dog, or just out for a stroll.
Two sides completed in the wood carving project – the block is a 75mm cube of limewood and has been carved with a mixture of hand tools and power tools. It is still a bit rough but getting there.
grooveware art 