After two days, the engraving has transformed from Shoulder to Actaeon. The shoulder is an anatomical mechanism. Actaeon was a famed huntsman in Greek mythology who stumbled upon the goddess Diana, naked, bathing in a sacred spring. Actaeon was hunting and the impertinence was totally unintended. Too late, he saw what no mortal should see and in revenge Diana turned him into a stag and his own dogs tore him to pieces.
What does all this have to do with shoulders, or engravings for that matter? First of all, you may be able to see in the photo of the plate after the first day's work a dark spot to the left of the figures elbow. This spot was a deeply corroded area that I could not easily polish out, so I left it thinking, "I'll deal with this later." At the end of the first day, I was musing on how to proceed and the thought occurred to me that that spot was a eye. But and eye of what? An eye of a dog. Why a dog? Because it's Actaeon! After all, he was already looking rather classical.
The next day, I started to work. Going through my dog pictures, I pulled out an Ibeza hound - perfect! The same animal is featured in my paintings, Picnic and Peaceable Kingdom. But first, my Greek hero needed some luxuriant hair. I wanted turbulent lines to contrast with the mostly straight hatching marks that made up the head, plus a dark area was needed on the side of the face to give it more depth and roundness. Tomorrow, I'll pull my first proof - always an exciting moment.
Wait! What about the dog? I lost the dog - too much of a distraction. The blemish got scraped and burnished off the surface and now it's smooth as a baby's butt.
Adrian
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