Saturday 5 April 2014

Wolf howling at the moon



This was an interesting engraving to do. I decided to engrave one of my favourite animals, the wolf, on a William Henry knife. The original photograph depicted this wolf surrounded by snow.
At the very beginning, I actually wanted to depict the snow. But then I thought that incorporating the moon in the design would be... cool. ( I am trying to think about another word, but just cannot find one at this moment in time.) I was rather happy with my decision but then something rather obvious struck me:
moon=night scene. And dear reader, engraving a night scene is not that straightforward. I was confronted with a few challenges. What technique would I use to depict " The Dark?"
Ha, hang on a second, I will tell you all about it in a few hours. I need to go for a walk in the sunshine  before it disappears!

Thursday 16 January 2014

Engraving of a partridge in flight.


This is probably one of the most exciting engravings I have ever done!
Why?
Well, simply because I was able to reproduce a drawing of a partridge by Jonathan Pointer, a fantastic wildlife artist. 
And then, after I completed the engraving, I showed him the end result. 
Dear reader, let me tell you that it was one of the most nerve wracking hours or so of my life!! 
Waiting to hear from him and see if I had done justice to his beautiful work...that was the ultimate challenge!
What of he hated it?? Would I have to leave the country and work on an oil platform with my friend Chris?
But let us all calm down. None of those scenari happened, though I kind of think that the oil platform gig sounds rather exciting. 
Indeed, I am glad to say that Jonathan was delighted with the result. I had fulfilled my mission: staying faithful to the original material of the artist. And that, ladies and gentleman, is what engraving ultimately is all about.

PS: I am not sure engraving is all about that. But it sounds really good, saying that, a bit like in a Jerry Springer end of show moment.