i have discovered, quite accidentally while working, that i really don't get along well with straight lines. there are, after all, no straight lines in nature. even the flatness of water has to have the curve of the earth. straight lines are a manmade event. i understand the necessity as a reference and i am guilty of using them on frequent occasions, but a curve is soooo much more appealing to the eye. looking back at it, all my current work is reflective of this, and i'm not sorry. when a horizontal member smoothly curves into it's vertically load carrying component, i love it!! it's so gratifying to me to find this line and carry it to the floor.
the other thing i've discovered while working is thickness and weight. wood is an amazing material. you look at old buildings that are sagging, bending, bowing out, even rotting in place, and wonder at the way this wood structure is holding it's form. it's probably a combination of things but a major component is the strength of the wood itself. i have reduced the thicknesses of wood in my pieces (gradually) and found that if it is done judicially, there is no reduction in the strength of the piece. my current objectives are to make my pieces as light and curvy as possible. i would leave you with these 2 pictures- the first of a piece of rotting wood i found out back in the great meadows, the second is the cabinet made from some of that same piece- wood is an amazing medium to work in!!
