I posted this on the WoW site and got some very interesting and helpful comments, so I'm anxious to see what happens here, good, bad, or downright nasty.
This piece is a major departure from my usual work. The title has a double meaning. First, it refers to the creation of a gemstone from common crystal (the red zirconia "emerald"). The second meaning is an oblique reference to my years as a painter of photo-realistic street scenes. This is my first time I've used paint on anything since I left the 2-D art world 12 years ago. For more info on that, go to my website,
www.alancarterstudio.com.
"Alchemy" may not be the most correct term to use for all this, but it kind of seemed to fit, at least in my somewhat warped mind.
The support structure, long central stem, suspended vessel, and base are all maple, painted, textured, pierced and in general tortured into submission. The black stones in the base are aquarium gravel, the white inside the vessel is tiny glass beads, and the central "gem" is zirconia, courtesy of Hobby Lobby.
The vessel is supported by a 16" long maple stem, turned down to about 1/16" at the bottom. The vessel is constrained from swinging to much (and probably breaking the stem) by the "stone" blocks surrounding the center base.
The whole thing is 21" high x 9" wide x 5" deep.
