Only Human
A slab of maple with a rough plain, before and after sanding, sanding, sanding, sanding, sanding and more sanding.
Then a sketch out of the design in mind.
Then the outline burn.
Then the shading and shading and shading and more shading.
Then the texturizing and shading and shading and shading and more shading until it is done!
I had this design in my mind for a while which does seem to help when I finally put a vision to ground.
For me, the skull has always been a perfect "naked" representation of "human" without gender or nationality - a unity symbol stripped away of personal identities. The snake has a few representations for me like kundalini and rebirthing through growth - the shedding of the old to give way for the new. The tree, a symbol of growth as well but more about where we come from ancestrally as well as where/what/how we grow. Specifically, the roots filling the mouth of the skull speaks of the complexities of family traditions and relationships and the two leaves at the top representative of dualities like animus/anima, good/bad as well as the ephemeral and cyclical nature of life.
Find this piece at my Etsy shop