The Winter Stone

 

A new week, a new month, November is over, and I'm starting in on this odd shaped hunk of desert stone. This small white mountain is streaked with brown and black, and it weighs in at fifty pounds even. Much of the material won't be workable. The rock is triangular in cross section, and it has a big, very flat face on one side, and a very irregular surface on another. 

 

Flat is hard to work with, and there's a crack across the lobe at the top end that will probably have to be cut off. The result will be a lot of scrap, and a small finished carving.

 

 

I got more done Wednesday than I had planned. I was just sort of noodling around getting a base line established around the thick end of the rock, but one thing led to another, and I ended up cutting the base, and working it flat on the sanding board. This seems to be a softer piece of alabaster than the one I just finished. We'll see, as I begin to grind on it.

 

 

Truth to tell, I'm approaching this project without much in the way of enthusiasm, or inspiration. It's work to do, and a bunch of problems to solve. It will keep me busy for a while. I'll end up with something cool to sit on the shelf, and that something will sit along with the sixteen other cool pieces I have sitting on shelves around here. Will someone want it? Will someone choose to buy it? Doubtful. But this is how the business of Art proceeds. 

 

You just keep doing it it because there is nothing else you'd rather do. It's fun.  You keep doing it because if you stop doing it then you're no longer an artist. It's important to be an artist, right? Besides, what's the alternative? Watch some TV? Go on line, read articles, and drop comments? Better to work. I didn't make a conscious decision to disengage from news and current events. 

I mean, I did not sit down, think it over, and decide that all the time spent keeping up with the news is time spent falling behind in life. I didn't decide to quit like deciding to quit smoking, or drinking. I'm just sick of all this shit, and I'm not going to feed on it anymore.  My internet travels don't go much further than American Digest, and Arkhaven comics. And I'm fine with that. Energy has to go where it's needed. The news cycle does not need my energy. Creating something, even if it's just carving on a rock, does require my energy, and the task channels my energy, and effort into something beautiful, or so I hope.

I keep doing it because it's important to keep creating. It's what we do in our small imitation of God. It should be approached with joy, but it has to be continued whether joy is part of the process or not. If you work only when you feel all inspired you won't get much done.