"old money"

[Dave McGeehan]

I'm following in awe also, Randall. I have the same question as Kevin: how do you make those deep, clean cuts such as the area between the money and the inner box side in the lower right-hand portion of the carving in that last photo? As always, amazing work!

[randall rosenthal]

dave....sharp tools and a willingness to sneak up on it. i see it in my mind and rather than try and make a few big cuts i make a lot of little cuts...however i do it fast. one thing i do is make everything slightly larger than i really think it should be. later i will trim back and it will give it a look of complexity. its more about tenacity than anything else. the stacks fall out randomly the way they do and there is no short cut to an honest rendition of them.

OK...i'm tired of carving at this point so lets play with color.

[Sean Hughto]

That's really impressive.

Do you have a real box that you are working from or do you make it all up from your mind?

[randall rosenthal]

thanks sean.....i saw the ripped corner (highest spot on sculpture) on a real box and the whole sculpture flowed from that. i usually want to be able to make it up as i go and make radical changes rather than conform to a rigid representation. the painting however is in so many ways the opposite.

[Bruce Page]

Randall, that is amazing. I was wondering what that triangular lump on the box flap was going to be.

[randall rosenthal]

OK...no surprise here. i figured i do the easiest one first. some of the buried ones are going to be a bigger challenge to paint than to carve. you cant see it but under the flap goes in quite a ways.

[Brian Kent]

What kind of tools do you use for that kind of painting accuracy (in addition to gifted and practiced genius in your brain and hands)?

[randall rosenthal]

thanks brian. first i mix a lot of the background color so i can tune up the painting every step of the way. i draw it on in pencil and then use a "micron" brand felt tip pen with archival ink. then i use the finest brush i can find with carbon black acrylic. then i do the color. the 50's have far more color and present a greater challenge. i finish with washes of carbon black. the green sides (which you will see in a bit) are done entirely with brushes as there is no pen i've found yet thats close to the right color and thin enough to be useful. unlike carving i can keep adding paint forever until i'm are satisfied.

[Kevin Adams]

Nice save on that corner, Randall, looks great!

[randall rosenthal]

dont get too attached to it kevin....it dosent stay like that. eventually i come to dislike the shape of both flaps and put sharp bends in them. then i run out of wood.

[randall rosenthal]

moving right along

[randall rosenthal]

its kinda strange how this forum threads run. most just have pages and you go to the next page. sorry if i lose my place.

[Dan Hintz]

its kinda strange how this forum threads run. most just have pages and you go to the next page. sorry if i lose my place.

Randall,

Make sure you have "Linear" display mode selected (near upper right).

[randall rosenthal]

thanks dan!.....duh.

[phil harold]

amazing work!