When not to paint a carving

[pallin]

This is an unusual relief I did a few years ago. It is a graphic design by Escher called "Tetrahedral Planetoid." It shows four village scenes in each corner. In the center you are looking straight down on some building roofs.

After I had finished the carving I thought "It might look better if I painted the roofs red - like you see in photos of Mediterranean towns." It didn't look right, so I decided to whitewash the walls. Then the trees, bushes and water had to be painted. The 3rd photo shows the result - rather garish and cluttered. I wish I had left it as it was!

Tetra1.jpgTetra2.jpgtetra3.jpg

[Mark Dellinger]

Phil,
I agree. It looks ok painted, but the true beauty of the carving seems to come through more so in the unpainted pictures. Nice illustration. thanks for the lesson. Oh wait a minute, how do you know when not to paint with out first painting and then realizing that you shouldn't have?

Safe carving and God Bless,

Mark

[Tom-H]

Me Too Phil! It's a fabulous carving, it still is, but with a stained finish it'd be even more special. IMHO! But, like I said still a wonderful effort and super piece.

Tom H

[gtech]

The same with me.

I try not to paint any carvings these days. I used to, but I like the beauty of the wood.

Gilles

[AlArchie]

Phil, I think you are right...the original looked better, but then again, there may be some that would prefer the painted version......not me though. Either way, it's an impressive piece of carving.

Al

[sappy]

Phil, I like it both ways. But here is a thought, how about tinting some varnish and brushing over it to tone down the colors a little? Like with antiquing. I'm thinking that will give it a more natural appearance. I think I'd tint it with burnt umber. Just a thought.

[imahic]

I like it both ways as well but would agree it would have looked better natural. I think Sappy's idea of antiquing also has some merit. Or maybe just best to leave it alone....lol. It is still a very nice carving regardless of the finish. I haven't tried any like this but it looks like it might be a fun project. I will have to keep my eyes open for a pattern that catches my eye.

[ragiarn]

In my opinion a good carving with good wood does not need painting. I believe that painting diminishes the carving. There are exceptions of course.

I visit museums to study different types of statues and carvings and except for religious type carvings of a certain era none of the statues are painted. Granted most are done in marble or bronze but the beauty of the sculpture and the material stands out.


"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder'

[Downeast]

Phil,
For me the tip-off on Escher is that everything I've seen of his is in black and white. He relies on shadow to make his point, as with relief carving. Adding color kind of defeats that, although on thinking about it, very subdued wood-hued stains my add the something you were looking for. But now that it's done, I like sappy's suggestion for antiqueing. Anyway you leave it, it a marvelous piece an alot of time invested. One more thing you might do just for giggles...with many Escher prints, as with this one, anywhere is up. You could mount it on a single screw and rotate it from time to time for a fresh look. Thanks for sharing.

Wayne

[pallin]

Downeast: Most of Escher's work was graphic art, some done as woodcuts. Some, such as "Metamorphose III", were printed in multiple colors using separate blocks. Another example is "Sun & Moon," a tesselation of light & dark birds. Escher superimposed a red & yellow radiating sun over the light birds, and a blue moon & stars over the dark birds. I carved that design as "28 Birds" in my photo gallery, leaving off the colors. There are many other examples where Escher used color, but not on "Tetrahedral Planetoid!"