I had a good week working after my parents returned home last Monday. It was great to see them and enjoy some holiday festivities. As it turned out, we were lucky, because now we’ve returned to full tilt pandemic anxiety mode. I feel like it’s March 2020 all over again with a lot of uncertainty and the misery of being cloistered. The Netherlands is back on hard lockdown thanks to the new and rapidly spreading OMICRON. It’s bad: evading vaccines and spreading more than twice as fast as any previous Covid variant, and while the the available data is inconclusive, it might be as severe as Delta. Schools are closed again, and although booster shots seem helpful, the NL is behind on giving shots (again). Hopefully I’ll be able to sign up for a booster January 7.
In news of my working progress, I realized that my chased copper “stone” sides don’t match well enough to solder them together. I’ll have to use them each as a separate stone half and start over. I’ve decided to use the finished edge to scribe as a reference outline and then use dividers to mark the inner diameter before chasing out the matching surface. Hopefully, it’ll be more successful. With my larger planned stone, I’ll only do one side at a time and execute the second side in this new way rather than trying to do both sides at the same time. It’s is a learning process.
I also painted my portrait of Hannah Arendt. I’d put it off because I was afraid I’d butcher it, but it was successful. I’m particularly pleased with the rendering of her shirt: the black on black textile surface looks beautiful. Her skin tone is a bit pale, but not bad, and retains some nice color. I think working from a black and white photo probably influenced the coloration more than I’d meant. Since Hannah Arendt has been my recent inspirational guide, I decided it would make sense to complete the painting as part of the tipping point series, and I’m working that through now. It’s become an odd and interesting piece, and I surprised myself with it, which feels good.