Capri, it's over!!!!!

And to think that it was the city of my first love!!!!!!!!

Yes, well, sorry, I'm getting ahead of New Year's Eve or I'm late for Christmas, it looks like I'm drunk and not even 11:00 in the morning, it's not serious.

So I get it together, I try to stay decent for a few minutes but you will admit that putting the finishing touches to a composition started more than a year ago is enough to make you happy, even if it is expressed in the form of a song by Hervé Vilard... (hopefully, if you read my blog in english you may not know about this song, it seems that an english version with quite different lyrics exists)

Here, the rust has embedded itself, the varnish is applied, I love it (unlike my wife who finds it very ugly, we can't agree all the time).

As a reminder, the slate piece is about 30cm high

More robins

As said before, I will not show you the text but I will deliver the robins that illustrate the pages of the little children's book.

Robin

 At my wife's request, I started writing a little children's book. As it is dedicated to a particular child, I will only post a few pages on this blog.
Nevertheless, I share with you the first one.

The soul of the cellos

Back to old studies.
Here is a fragment of a text by Villiers de l'Isle Adam.
One translation could be : "Is the soul of the cellos carried away by the cry of a broken string?"

I found a dead leaf already damaged whose shape reminded me of the instrument and the text came back to my mind.
So I acid-etched the text on a zinc plate and transferred the picture of the leaf using acrylic binder to accompany the quotation.
It is not totally finished, the author's name and signature are missing, but, as usual, I will try to make them invisible ; so you can consider that you are looking at the final version of the work.

B as Blue

A initial for a little boy, so necessarily blue since his first name begins with a B ;-)

I show you some steps of the realization so that you can follow my progress.

the pencil structure to delimit the spaces

painting of the letter and gilding

some steps of the filigree

and the final version

Guillevic

I have read again for the umpteenth time the collection Du domaine by Guillevic.
I find new inspiration with each reading.

A slate engraving, filled with rust & wax for a poem about time
(home made translation : Here the time, believes itslef innocent)

and a poem on rain (and time), engraved on a terracotta pot, which I have already posted in video but of which I give you a still image (I recommend the video, the problem of the pots being their roundness which prevents us to cover their entire circumference at a glance).

Joe, William, Jack & Averell

smartphone

I succumbed to the bewitching sirens of technology and, not being satisfied with the existing offer, I decided to design a new smartphone myself.
First of its generation, the pineapple 1.0 has incredible features, the most important being the... paperweight!!!!!!!

Engraving on slate & rust filling for the logo.

If you also want to be at the cutting edge of science, don't hesitate to contact me, I can provide you with a specimen of pineapple 1.0 while waiting for version 2 which will benefit from even more amazing features at a price that defies all reason!

Don't wait any longer!!!

Titivillus

Perhaps my lack of inspiration is due to Titivillus, the demon that pushes scribes to make mistakes in copying. I saw him in my watercolor palette.

In spite of him, I keep scribbling, because I don't have any ideas.

More scribbling

A few more small initials, some walnut stain but also some blue for a change.

always in the same dimensions (about 2cm for the letter).
The color variations are due to the lighting variations during the shooting but everything is done on white watercolor paper.

Not inspired

I can't do anything, and I'm not sure I want to right now.
So I scribble to spend the evenings, a few small filigree letters.

again walnut stain, again letters that are about 2cm high....

On going filigree

 More filigrees, this time a little larger than usual.
It is only the preparatory work, the final result (from a material point of view) will probably be quite different.

A first picture in progress with the marker to give an idea of the size

And the finished pattern before moving on to the next step of the realization

MV done

After about 12 hours, the monogram is finally finished.

It is about 10cm wide, as a finishing touch, as you can see on the first picture, I added a layer of arabic gum on the letters to give them more shine.

Monogram

Weekends are not long enough.
After 6 hours of work (I don't count the preparatory work), here is the status of the last monogram in progress. There is still a long way to go!

Virgilis - WIP

 I had started to calligraphy Book I of the Aeneid on a door last May... It's still not over, but I've made some progress.

67 lines for the moment, at the rate of 20 minutes per line, I have already spent more than 22 hours there.

Light

A few filigrees to embellish a frosted glass wall lamp

Quickly made (20 minutes ?) with an acrylic marker.

tatoo ?

I'm testing different markers, alcohol or acrylic.
And what better way to test than to decorate your skin?

fortunately, all this will go away with a little thinner:-)

Heart reloaded

I couldn't stay on my failure.
So here's version 2, in red!

I much prefer, the two shades of red are fused enough so that the filigree patterns are not too obvious.

spinach

I continue in vegetables.
This time, spinach!
And for a change, I carved my slate by piercing it through and through.

Turnips

August is already well underway, it is more than time to sow turnips.
But it is necessary to be able to indicate them in the garden thus, as usual, small sign engraved on slate.

This time, to change a bit, I used a gothic and it's the turn of the letters I engraved.

And yes, some pieces are missing, I'm aware, it's even done on purpose ;-)

wedding announcement

Work done on a wedding announcement.
I'm just showing you some fragments:

a piece of the names (the letters are 2cm high) :

and the decoration at the bottom of the announcement (I already used this kind of pattern in another composition) :

fail

It's long been a given that colour is not my thing.
confirmation after a few hours of work...

I show you the long version.

The gilding

The first letter

The second one

the different steps of the filigree

The final version

It's ugly (the first one who tells me that no, I banish him forever in the limbo of the internet)
So I'm gonna do it again. How ? I don't know yet.
What's for sure is that this afternoon, I'm gonna go gardening, it'll give me a rest.