Koa "Balzac" Catches Author Striding Around Paris

When I first studied this block of raw koa, I surely did not see Balzac in it. Often I have a figure in mind when I start, but this time I was only following the wood. I had some vague idea of finding inside a mermaid floating in water, surrounded by little dolphins or fish, everything swirling. So I roughed in an appropriate base. Doing that told me there were not going to be little dolphins or even much detail. This wood wanted to stay blocky, not delicate.

So okay. I kept cutting, following the wood until it gave me a form with some gesture. Then, I stopped and pondered what it reminded me of, what in the world it wanted to become. You know the answer. Balzac, cape flapping, rushing about on stumpy legs, shouting at Paris. (I don't know if this is what Balzac really looked like or did. I don't care. It is what he was doing in my head.) From then on the piece was downhill. Turn that protuberance into a head, subtract a lot here, subtract a tad and a half there, stop, do a little more removal, restrain yourself before you go too far. Well, turn this part a little more. Then stop, file smooth, sand, and impregnate the piece with resin. Aloha, Balzac!

This carving is in koa, grown and harvested on the Big Island. There are lots of holes, fissures, rough spots, and other features of the wood which I chose not to carve away. I view these as being similiar to the brush strokes of a painter. They should not contaminate the abstraction, they should enhance it. And that, of course, becomes a matter of taste.

Balzac stands ten and a half inches high, eight inches wide and six inches deep. The bottom carries the carved word "HOWARD". There are no other markings.

Koa Carving of Balzac . . . . . . . . . .$ 300 (SOLD)