Dürer was the 'rock star' of the German Renaissance

Allbrick Dürer was one of the first painters to seriously explore cross-hatching techniques that facilitated the creation of many of the first and best woodcut and engraving prints in Europe. Again, I wonder, given his label, 'rock star' (by smarthistory.org), if this accomplished artist too might have thought about actually getting into stone and rocks, as well.  

The wonderful way he creates that sense of light and shade in his prints is worth musing on.  Is it possible, since his works are so realistically shaded, using that classic, stippled, scratchy-line, 'hashtag' shading effect, that he might have thought about taking up a point, or a crandall or a bush hammer, and see about quietly dressing the large smooth, sawn blocks of stone bordering the municipal horse-and-buggy parking lot, in order to make them seem more natural and less man-made.  

When he was finished, the stones in the first drawing might have ended up looking like these ones - as if they were in one of his lovely engravings, 

But then again maybe if he lived in our era, he would have been more successful doing the reverse - grabbing a respirator mask, a pair of safety glasses, ear protectors, and have a stab at making #modernrockart. 

 

Graphic artist considers taking his tessellation skills to a new Escherlon!

What if Maurits Escher turned to dry stone walling?  What if he shaped his ducks and lizards and fish out of stone, making sure that every one had exactly the same shape? Would they be as easy to lay then as bricks or squared blocks of stones? Or would it be more difficult? I wonder. 

Would it be just one big boring puzzle? And more importantly, would the repetition of the pattern drive clients crazy? 

Now that I think about it, probably Escher knew to stick with drawing impossible interconnecting shapes rather than trying to make them in the three D world, and then end up having no one that impressed. Sometimes an impossible creation, that's taken an impossible amount of time, no matter how perfect it is, is not as interesting as something that merely involved fitting random stones together skillfully.

Rather, for the rest of us wallers, whenever an opportunity presents itself, keep striving to do the improbable, . You could surprise yourself how well you do and, hopefully, it won't look cookie cutter perfect. 

What if painters expressed themselves using stones instead.

 

Connecting Random Dots and Thoughts

Why is it that stones, when they get into groups, seem surprisingly eager to communicate recognizable geometric shapes and alignments. At some point after the first few are laid, the stones seem to start lining up more along a plane or a contour of something recognizable . This works with curves and spirals too. It may be too, that human eye, is only too eager to see planes and straight lines and curving alignments in otherwise fairly random arrangements of stones.

 

Stones really know how to Keep in Shape

 Unlike humans, stones, even if they hang around doing nothing, don't get out of shape too quickly. In order to keep their shape, they vehemently resist the forces of time and weathering, and the various forms of mechanical tampering that men have come up with through the ages. Yes, in the end they might sometimes have too submit to crushers and the indignities of huge splitting and sawing machines. But I suspect, if they had their way, if they had their choice, they'd like to be appreciated for the shapes they come in, the way God made them. An authentic dry stone waller, if he's being true to the nature of the material he is gathering, tries not to change the shape of the stones he's been called upon to use. A little chipping here and there, a splitting by hand, of larger  (overweight?) stones is acceptable. Generally however, if not exactly what is needed, the shapes they come in, almost always suggest how they could become 'fit' enough, with just a little human coaxing (coaching?), and only by 'exercising' enough restraint on our part.

Make no Mistake

 Sometimes rocks look like food - a melon perhaps , a loaf of bread, eggs, candies, chocolate or popcorn.

We need the inner nourishment of stone. For those of us who love stones and rocks, it's not something we can do without. Thankfully there is usually enough produce along the road side that we can get our fill. Sometimes it's a pick your own operation. Our eyes may often be bigger than our vehicles, though. 

Quarries are like big rock grocery stores. We can pickup all kinds of 'produce' there and bring it fresh to our garden. I've always said that a garden without stones is like a BLT with out the bacon.

Unlike food, stones are always in season and never go off. They never over-ripen or become soggy. Leftovers are always useful and often worth keeping around indefinitely until you can use them with other grains and scraps, in some sort of dry stone combo. 

Mushrooms are my favourite.  They pop up everywhere, and look good to eat even in winter. They're best on top of walls. The thing is, none of these rock/foods will make you sick. You can't make a mistake.You can always identifying it's a 'rock' even if you don't know what type it is. And really, if you think about it, they are all magical!

 

 

Reflecting on/under Bridges

 

Two Types 0f Stones

Sometimes it feels like there are only two types of stones.

Landscapers here in Canada often use something called 'Armour Stone' to do terracing and retaining walls. These are much bigger 'freezer sized' stones than we like to use. They don't need to be that big to hold back the soil. 

The word 'armour' makes it sound like they are at war. When you see all the heavy equipment they use to put them in, and the saws, drills, and sometimes grinders and other powerful weapons, it does look like a bit of a battlefield until they are done. 

Dry stone wallers are not at war. Many of us love what we do. We love each other too,
The stones we use could well be called 'Amour' stones. Oui?

Still Thinking we are not over Thinking yet.