Thursday, June 25, 2009

Lovely Spines


I’m still plugging away at the Trilobite lineage blocks. I’ve carved two more from the sketches I’ve made. Even though I’m not finished by a long shot there is something so gratifying about this stretch of the project. The massive block I did with the border and horseshoe crab in the middle was very tedious. In the beginning, the copper stars and DNA border seemed fun and challenging but by the end of its completion I was getting repetition sickness! The horseshoe crab was interesting but the jury is still out for me as to whether I should leave it be or try to keep working with the design. With the Trilobites I sketch the image to my liking, carve the block, and then I’m done and can move on to the next trilobite. There’s enough variety for it to continue to be fun.
This little guy featured above is from the Lichida family of Trilobites. His name is Boedaspis ensifer and his head reminds me of a vacuum cleaner. I had fun carving his whip-like extensions.

Here is Eoharpes and will probably be the only Harpetida Trilobite that I will do. The Harpetida family has a few other variants but not distinct enough for me to do more. They mostly all have the same wide helm-like face that reminds me of a Trojan warrior.

3 comments:

d. moll, l.ac. said...

OH, yes, very lovely indeed they are very attractive!!!

Annie B said...

I used a vacuum cleaner just like that this morning!

These little guys are looking great. The Japanese have a great expression that doesn't really have an English equivalent: ganbatte! It means "keep going, you're doing great." Ganbatte!

tom said...

Coolio! I love mud and trilobites and woodblock prints.