Forest light and the seal that almost wasn't

After my etching refresher at Megalo I went back to the Glassworks (a walk of 2 minutes) to continue polishing and shaping the Forest light with Eucalyptus oil. The scent elicited many positive comments and curiosity as I worked.

I got bored of smoothing towards the end of the day and started on an idea I have for the Depths & Shallows exhibition. It's one of those ideas that I'm not sure if it's going to be cheesy or knick-knacky until I try one. I was thinking of sculpting a selkie, the transformation shown with the female form as negative space inside the seal form. I struggled for an hour or so before my lump of wax started to look even vaguley like a seal and then it was time to go.

Polishing wax with Eucalyptus oil

forest light inside

Selkie in progress

Forest light project

I have this image in my head, that is where I'm trying to get to with this light.

from my sketch book, the one on the left

I haven't done this before, so I'm just going with it. There are elements that I have done before but not quite put together like this. The collage below shows progress over the last 3 days.

forest light stage 1 montage

Writing quote of the day

“Inevitably they find their way into the forest. It is there that they lose and find themselves. It is there that they gain a sense of what is to be done. The forest is always large, immense, great and mysterious. No one ever gains power over the forest, but the forest posses the power to change lives and alter destinies.”

Jack Zipes. The Brothers Grimm: From Enchanted Forests to the Modern World. (2^nd ed.) New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2002, 65.