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Cirrus
African
Blackwood
When
I was 10 years old I was lucky enough to see ball lighting. I was only
a few feet away from it, watching in awe as it slowly span clockwise,
its interior an electric blue shot through with yellow and red streaks,
as it hovered about a foot above a 5 foot wall just in front of some dark
trees.
I
only learned years later that I had been in considerable danger, so I had
a long look at it before turning around to call the family. When I looked
back it had gone as silently as it had come.This carving is partly in response
to that incident, and partly because of a quick sketch I made with no particular
idea in mind. The translation has not been an easy one however. The strength
of the sketch lay, perhaps, in its rough nature and if there is one thing
I have learnt - it is that a sketchy netsuke is a rotten netsuke and a small
carving has to be perfectly executed or it looks horrible.As with so many
other things, the simplicity of its design entirely belies the cimplexity
of its construction; but I feel that it is in Cirrus' simplicity that the
strength of the carving lies. The yellow plasma is slightly streaked to
help give it an insubstantial aspect and the African Blackwood is quite
light in colour so as not to contrast too much with the yellow as would
say.. ebony.I suppose the underlying theme is one of creation, the wisps
of smoke encircling and perhaps containing a living plasma. I hasten to
add that the ball lightning I saw was a perfectly round globe without wisps
of smoke, but there again the incident was without any sense of drama too...
in which case it would not have been so interesting to carve.
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