Look! The king has got a crown again!
This was drawn in compressed charcoal on buff paper. I have returned to a limestone block eroding from an arid karst platform, supporting trailing caper plants in flower. My attention was drawn to a large hole, somehow reminiscent of an eye socket. I have drawn this before, like a side view of an ungulate’s skull (https://kestrelart.wordpress.com/2011/11/09/limestone-skull/). This time I saw a more anthropoid facies in the same image. The overlying white flowers brought back to me a scene from Lord of the Rings describing an unexpected vision of hope for the beleaguered characters. Unintentionally perhaps, my own image subverts this and is rather bleaker in mood.
kestrelart 
When I first read the title and glimpsed the image I saw a decaying skull, complete with teeth at the bottom. Even after I’ve learned that it’s a limestone block I still see a skull.
Steve Schwartzman
http://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com
You are right of course. I saw a skull from the start and this is what I drew. I will keep returning to this. Each attempt is a means of exploring the patterns formed by the erosion of the surface. This is only one way, imposing an image opens then a narrative on what I cold see in nature. Future versions may go back to the more natural surface.