I believe that in a previous post I mentioned my current project, using up a load of scrap wood by building useful objects. I have finished constructing two raised beds in the garden. These were relatively straightforward jobs. Currently, however, I am well into making a cold frame for my daughter-in-law.* The task is turning out to be an interesting one as it makes me realise some of the specificity of being a painter.
As a painter, of course, I work in only two dimensions, even ‘though I might be trying to represent three-dimensional objects. In fact, however complex the form I am depicting the paper/canvas is only a single, flat plane. With my current construction project, however, I am having to imagine relationships in three dimensions. This might be fairly straightforward if I were building a simple form in which all the planes were at right-angles to each other. In that case every junction between elements would be a right-angle. The only problem would be ensuring the accuracy of my measurement. I am not sure what the technical term for this might be, but the object I am constructing is probably best described as a wedge sitting on top of a cube. You will grasp immediately the fact that the intersection between planes is not always at ninety degrees.
The interest comes about because the pieces of wood from which I am making this object don’t just abut onto each other. I am attempting to revive my school woodwork by using proper joints. Imagining things in three dimensions so that it is possible to judge the angles at which the members intersect is actually quite a problem. A lap joint is very straightforward, until you try to make one piece intersect the other piece at 40 degrees.
I’m beginning to develop a profound new respect for sculptors, for whom everything has to be imagined in three dimensions.
There is an ancillary problem that is almost as demanding. It is much harder to cut exact joints if these coincide with large knots in the wood. Given a heap of scrap wood, I have to select each piece making allowances to where it might be necessary to do any precise cutting. It’s all good clean fun, and harms nobody. Sometimes I think that the Scrabble challenge I wrote about a couple of weeks back** was a relatively simple proposition in comparison with this.
*If you are not a gardener, a cold frame is best described as a miniature greenhouse.
**Post of 2 February.