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.
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.