Carving from Belgorod

[HAIIAPHNK]

6 hours ago, empathry said:

... and in such a case, why not set the entire ship model on fire and analyse the wave lenght(s) emitted by its raw products through a spectrometer ? 

The customs would get from its ashes all the requested (legal) answers !  

Are we turning to Ray Bradbury Farenheit 451 ?

Will books be burnt ?

Will art be burnt ?

We'll ourselves be burnt and euthanized (... obviously for "our" security) in order to fertilize this planet ? 

 

Oh! We are now very close to a difficult place. I would not like disputes to arise between opponents and supporters of the use of bone.
There can be many different opinions here. And each side will be right.

[HAIIAPHNK]

After work on Fulminant was discontinued, I had more time. And I returned to my lion project. During this time, I managed to finish two lion figures. And first, I will show you the Turkish lion.
In fact, it took a very long time to complete. I started it more than two years ago. And work on it was put on hold. Only now has it been completed. I finished everything I wanted to do. Well, not everything; there are still some issues left. But more on that later.

I didn't take any photos while I was working on it. There's nothing new here, and I don't see the point in photographing something I've already shown many times. So, there will only be photos of the finished sculpture.

I am very happy that I was able to make a Turkish lion for the lion collection. Very often you can see different styles. The vast majority are either European or American ships. But I don't know any Asian ones at all. Although Turkey is a country with a long maritime tradition. But I don't know much about it. The only memories I have are childhood impressions from Sabatini's books. In one of them, the main character was enslaved on a Turkish galley. But, of course, as befits the main character, he managed to escape and embark on adventures. 

 

I also remember descriptions of some battles from the Russo-Turkish wars. But that's all about events. I had no idea what Turkish ships actually looked like. That means I had never encountered Turkish decor. I know that religious laws prohibit painting or sculpting people, and the main method of decoration is patterns, intertwining geometric or plant elements. So, getting to know the ships of this country was a revelation for me. As it turned out, the maritime museum in Istanbul is very diverse and rich. There was a lion figure there that I couldn't pass by. 
What was especially valuable was that it wasn't just a small figure on a model ship or a drawing, it was a life-size sculpture. So there was a lot for me to look at there. The plasticity of the body, the style. How exactly the carver depicted the mane and fur. 

 

 

 

 

 You can see for yourself how different this lion is from the other European lions in my collection. Compared to Swedish, British, or Russian lions, the Turkish lion is closer to a real predator. In other countries, lions were depicted as strange monsters. Here, with the exception of a few minor details, the body structure is very accurate. The explanation for this is quite simple. Most likely, lions were not exotic animals in Turkey. They were probably brought from Africa and kept in private menageries by local rulers or wealthy nobles. 

In Europe, it was much more complicated. People there simply did not know what a real Simba looked like. Keeping one was not easy. More often than not, lions could be seen as skins on the wall or stuffed animals.

 

 

 

 

 

That is why there is such a big difference in how artists imagined the king of beasts. Well, the second reason why the Turkish lion looks more like a real one than the others is that the Turkish lion represents a different era. 

 

 

 

It was created much later than its northern counterparts in the collection. That's the whole reason. Ideally, I would have liked to find a more ancient reference for the Turkish lion. But I simply couldn't find one. 

 

 

 

[HAIIAPHNK]

Well, now I can show you what I've come up with.

This is what my Turkish lion figure looks like.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I haven't yet decided whether this will be the final look or if I will work on it some more. You can see that the museum reference has gilding. Maybe I will do the same with my sculpture. But I'm not sure. I don't know if it's worth doing. I will come back to this question later, when the whole company is assembled. I will lay out all the lions and think about how they will stand on their exhibition pedestals. Should I leave them all wooden, or should I add paint, gilding, or something else to some of them? For now, at this stage, I consider the work on the Turkish lion to be complete. 

[HAIIAPHNK]

Chewed mole.

There is such an expression in Russian. I don't know where it came from, and I don't know its true meaning 100 percent. I've never thought about it, and I can't say that I use it often in my speech. I just know it from somewhere, that's all. Most likely, this strange combination of words appeared as a substitute. There is a swear word that sounds like this very mole that someone chewed. That is, in order not to say the swear word, for example, if there are ladies or children nearby, someone came up with a strange but legal phrase. Those who are familiar with the swear word will understand what is actually being said here. But innocent children will only hear a funny combination of words. But this is just my guess, I don't know the exact explanation. 
This phrase is usually uttered when something breaks, gets damaged, or doesn't work out. It's an outburst of pent-up emotions. I'm sure there's something similar in every language. People are the same, and when something doesn't go as planned, they just want to swear.
But why did I start this story with a mole? It's simple: I often remembered this phrase while working on my next lion. But first things first.

This story is about a Spanish lion. As usual, I first had to find a suitable reference. That wasn't a problem. There are plenty of lions from Spain. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I spent more time thinking about which one to choose. And just before I started working, I suddenly saw this photo by chance. It immediately caught my attention. I started looking for information about where this photo was taken. In which museum? 

 

 

 

 

Soon I had other photos with this lion. I realized that I wanted to make this one. And so the work began.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then that same chewed-up mole started to appear somewhere nearby. I decided to make this lion from a small apple tree log. I had worked with this log before. I used part of it to make the “Brit.” And then everything was fine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But now the wood was tormenting me. It was very difficult to cut and process. In some places, the material was loose, and in others, the cut turned out as if I were not working with a sharp knife, but tearing with my teeth. 
While I was doing the rough work, I didn't pay attention to it. Movements during this stage of work do not have to be very precise. You just need to cut away a lot of excess material. Untidy marks are quite normal here. But when it came to more precise movements, the wood began to surprise me. I can cut the wood and everything cuts perfectly, but after a couple of centimeters, everything starts to change dramatically. Then you can only cut in one direction, then in the opposite direction. The material crumples, then tears. And then everything becomes quite acceptable again and cuts perfectly.

And every time I huffed and puffed, called the lion a mole, and wondered whether I should continue carving. Maybe I should throw away this damn piece of wood, take another blank, and start all over again. And every time I came to the same decision. No, I'll give this blank another chance. I've already wasted a lot of nerves and time on it. But now I've managed to make the difficult part look less like someone actually chewed on it and spit it out. I've achieved a result that doesn't look too awful anymore. After all, I've already carved another lion from this piece of wood. And everything was fine. I hope my torment will end here and everything will be easier from now on.
And guess what happened next? Next, I remembered the mole again, got angry and tormented myself. And again I thought that maybe it wasn't too late to start all over again. And every time I thought about it, I found more and more reasons to convince myself to continue tormenting myself.

Look, you've already done the head, it was difficult, but now you like it... 
Come on, you've already done the head and the mane. Don't you feel sorry for the time you've spent? 
Look, you've already done more than half the work, you didn't just suffer, you also showed tremendous patience. Come on, gather your strength, this nasty piece of wood must not win, it must not break you.
So I kept working. In the end, the Spanish lion wasn't abandoned. I showed patience. Or maybe stubbornness. Or maybe it wasn't patience at all, but laziness. Laziness to start all the work over again. All of this is equally true.

 

 

In the end, I would describe the path I decided to follow as negative rather than positive. Yes, I can call myself persistent. I can think about the fact that I was able to complete the work with capricious material. Can this be called a victory? Yes, it can.
But in reality, no. Because of my attitude, I spent a lot of time on this sculpture. The work progressed slowly. I often put everything aside. Perhaps if I had taken a higher quality blank, I could have made not one figure, but two or three in the same amount of time.
Every time I returned to work, I was not driven by a sense of pleasure. Not by sweet thoughts that I would be doing what I love. But by the fact that it would spoil my mood again. And I would do it only to get it over with as soon as possible.
Yes, I was able to smooth out the difficult spots, and if I hadn't talked about my adventures, no one would have known about it. And no one would have found those spots. But still, I only did it so that the rough and poor-quality areas wouldn't be noticeable. I couldn't do everything the way I wanted to. I wanted to get a different mane. On my lion, it's not the same as on the original. And that's the downside of my decision, my laziness. 
Most likely, I will continue to tremble with excitement for a long time when I look at this sculpture. For me, it will remain Zhevanny Krot. I remember other sculptures. What I achieved with them. And now there will be an outcast.

 

 

[HAIIAPHNK]

Now it's time to show the photos. I didn't take any photos along the way. Only the final ones.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This story turned out to be emotional. Even tearful. Was there any point in writing about it? Maybe I should have just shown the photos and left it at that. But there are practical lessons to be learned from this story. I heard this phrase: Sometimes you need to stop and think, am I doing something stupid?
I don't remember where I heard it. It sounds like something psychological. It could have been said somewhere in a movie or a motivational speech.
This saying also applies to this case. Maybe it's worth stopping and starting all over again. That's what I should have done.

 

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I was already thinking of stopping there. But just before publishing the article, I decided to add a few more words. There have been many moments in my life when I failed at something. And then my mood would also be ruined. For example, I'm terrible at ironing clothes. I hate doing it, no matter how hard I try, after I iron them, they look even worse. I am completely unable to plaster walls. When I was building my house, this stage drove me crazy. What could be so difficult about it? Just take the plaster and smear it on the walls. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get the walls to be nice and smooth. There are many other similar examples. And many times I abandoned other “chewed-up moles.” I put them aside and thought that later I would return to this task and do everything right. But that was the end of it. I didn't start over. I didn't redo it. 

There are many such abandoned, unfinished projects.
From this point of view, the Spanish lion can be seen as a victory. One way or another, this project has been brought to completion. And that's what matters! There are moments in life when a problematic story no longer seems tragic after some time has passed. And you can tell jokes about how you crashed your car, lost your wallet, or fell into a puddle.
So be it. And then I will point to my lions and say: 
I called this one Gustav, and that one Peter. And this one, with a sly smile, is Chewed Mole. And then they will surely ask me why a mole, and a chewed one at that?
 And then I will say:
It's too long to explain. Believe me, he is the real Chewed Mole. No other nickname would suit him...

[Keith Black]

 Beautiful work, just lovely. Congratulations!

[HAIIAPHNK]

2 minutes ago, Keith Black said:

 Beautiful work, just lovely. Congratulations!

 

Thank you for your assessment of my work.

[Ronald-V]

Masterful 🙏

[wefalck]

Looks like a very modern lion - on an electrical scooter  😁

[druxey]

For a chewed mole, he looks very good! Well done. (We are always our own worst critic.)

Edited Wednesday at 10:22 PM by druxey

[HAIIAPHNK]

12 hours ago, wefalck said:

Looks like a very modern lion - on an electrical scooter  😁

I hadn't thought about it. But now I can't look at him without that image in my mind. He really is riding somewhere on an electric scooter. Or roller skates. 
😄

[HAIIAPHNK]

10 hours ago, druxey said:

For a chewed mole, he looks very good! Well done. (We are always our own worst critic.)

 

Hello, David. 
You're right, we are indeed the first in line to criticize our own work. And that's normal, as long as it doesn't turn into complexes. The truth is, we also have an enthusiastic fan of our own creations inside us, who craves recognition from others. So there's almost always a battle going on inside between the critic and the fan. Sometimes their arguments even keep us awake at night.