Wednesday, 7 March 2012

Mugshot










Finished the "spikes" yesterday, did an eye-job today. Just some final sandpapering and oiling left to be done.

http://www.gafpa.nl

Friday, 2 March 2012

Green Man




















The Green Man: Fish@4:13



http://www.gafpa.nl


Thursday, 1 March 2012

Heathohlaewe - word of the day

Triggered by Kiernan's nathwylc article, I could not resist finding out myself.












The MS today: heathohlaewe - just hea is left












Zupitza's autotype - late 19th century
hlaewe - barely readable


heathohlaewe - digitally restored [Kiernan-Electronic Beowulf]
















Meaning:













Wednesday, 29 February 2012

Hwaet!






So!
It came at last, this codex of codices
word-wondrous and winding, hiding
still self-contained secrets pointing at
enigmatic mores, murder, past
from the distant dark dream-time ...












Today I got my Electronic Beowulf, which really made time stand still. It was the same kind of feeling as when I found that second-hand Klaeber, way back in the eighties.

Nobody had heard of Kiernan in those days, which is really astonishing. What puzzled me though, while still believing in an early date, was the fact that somebody around the year 1000 AD deliberately spent a substantial amount of vellum on this text.

I vaguely remember seeing the MS in the British museum and me reading it aloud.

I remember my teacher of Old-English having a facsimile - a Zupitza reprint I believe - which seemed totally out of reach for me.
That was nearly thirty years ago.

Sunday, 26 February 2012

Hair and Beard

Today I completed the first "ring" of hair and beard.




















Last night I started on the beard. It has a very distictive, graphic effect.
No easy job, though since you can't afford any miscuts.


















This is one of my models. Wereldmuseum Rotterdam [Summer 2010]


















Sunday, 19 February 2012

Sandpapering
























Roughing out is nearly done.
This afternoon it almost felt like spring, so I went outdoors. An hour later, we had hail and snow.


http://www.gafpa.nl

Wednesday, 1 February 2012

Arms


Just the left arm, actually.


http://www.gafpa.nl