And a Lion Was Born Out of a Lonesome Nose…

I often write without a specific theme in mind. All I know is that I need to write.

And I paint or design 3D work with the same approach. It is based on the thrill of the exploration when I listen to what the materials I use have to “say”. They often become something new, with the shared input by them and me.

So, I had preserved the nose, upper lips and whiskers of a large hare. I was not sure what to use it for till I put it on my work bench and looked at it. A few minutes later I had made two small opening for eyes and added squirrel fur on top on guides of a mane.

Now I had the unusual head of a lion-like creature. And it was only 4 inches long!

The temptation was unavoidable to make this new piece bigger, stronger and more expressive than it is. I decided to use a coyote fur hat as the blurred background and the skull of a peccary as the holder of this lion-hare.

Here are the hat and skull:

And this is the new perspective when I added the lion-hare:

What was the goal of all this? Well, perhaps a demonstration that simple raw natural materials and a bit of creativity can result in “special effects” as good as all the digital manipulation of a virtual world on a laptop.

After all, I still use 1950s mechanical cameras and B&W film for my photographic work….

June 14, 2018

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2018