This blog post is just a short update to mention two things.
First, I did it! I finished this piece that I have loved and despaired of and agonized over. (Don’t like my preposition positions? Tough noogies.)
Second, I have finally sculpted a face with expression and a sense that the eyes move around. (Don’t like my split infinitive? See above.)
I was almost convinced not to follow through with my initial intent of adding a touch of glossy finish to the eyeballs and lips, but I’m oh, so glad that I did. I had intentionally made the face a little enigmatic — crooked smile, exaggerated lips, and wide eyes looking forward — in the hopes of creating this effect. I’m just pleased as punch that it worked. More of this in the future, please!
I’m delighted to say that you just need to see this one in person to get the whole impact of her range of emotions. They are all part of the story being told in this piece, and I look forward to my increasing skill allowing me to tell more complex stories in the future.
In my version of the Medusa story, she refuses to accept the mantle of Monster. Forces beyond her control may have harmed her, changed her, and vilified her, but their vision of her is their own — not hers. My Medusa is, from various angles, a little sad, a little hurt, slightly amused, defiant, strong, proud, and isolated. She cannot avoid the harm that has been done to her, but she can refuse to let it define the entirety of who she is. Poseidon has toppled over, his statue broken, with myrtle (a plant associated with female energies) taking root in the place where his bust once stood. Athena’s owl looks on in cruel indifference. Her olive offerings sit ignored in a broken scale, failing to balance the shattered offering of Poseidon. Marine life oozes from the broken gilded container, slithering down to the underworld. Medusa’s snakes reach out in all directions and form a shield around her head, a symbol of her determination to never again be so cruelly treated. She rejects the title of Monster, regardless of the perceptions of the world.
I AM NOT THE MONSTER
(I said no)