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skulls? Why?

 
r ranson
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Why do so many artists draw or paint skulls?

Is it because they rock or because there's something to learn from painting them?  Or some other reason?  

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Jojo Cameron
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Sometimes the skulls have 'Memento mori' written on them.  You might already know this, but it means 'Remember you're mortal'.  So, it's a way of reminding themselves to live as fully as possible.  Beyond that, for some it'll be an unthinking or instinctive expression of what comes to mind, or maybe an anatomical fascination.  I can't think of much more, besides maybe visualising the state you want your enemies to take! xD

They say time's the great healer, and that's true. It's just not a very good anaesthetist, is the problem,
Whose lunar deity is not male is destined to be dominated by his wife. -- Old Hindu proverb

 
r ranson
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Interesting.

I found a rat skull in pretty good condition today and was wondering if I should start a skull collection because that's what artists do.

But then I wonder why?

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Jojo Cameron
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Fundamentally, I'm not sure there is a 'why'.  The artistic impulse is basic, and the answer is, 'Just because.'  You like what you like.  If you collect rat skulls because you want to, that's one thing.  Collecting them because you think that's what artists do is another thing.  Telling the difference is an art in itself.

They say time's the great healer, and that's true. It's just not a very good anaesthetist, is the problem,
Whose lunar deity is not male is destined to be dominated by his wife. -- Old Hindu proverb

 
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My first thought is they're intriguing. But, there are interesting artistic challenges in them, too. They're monochromatic, but have so many contours and angles, that light plays on them in unique ways, giving the same types and numbers of different moods that it gives other things, but with all those intricate lines. Throw in varying backgrounds, and one skull can give so many options... It's not quite like a piece of fruit or a can or cup - it's more advanced, more detail, engages the imagination more...

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Jojo Cameron wrote:Sometimes the skulls have 'Memento mori' written on them.  You might already know this, but it means 'Remember you're mortal'.  So, it's a way of reminding themselves to live as fully as possible.


Death was a central topic during various artistic eras, not just in the visual arts but also in literature, drama, poetry... this idea of mortality, what happens after death, etc. For every memento mori painting you have a Decameron (people telling stories as they wait to catch the black plague) or later, an Emily Dickinson (writing poems about her own death). Artists have always had the license to think about death a bit more, as it's something that is ultimately looming over everyone, where others might tend to avoid the topic.

("I got one degree in fine arts and another in literature and all i got was this t-shirt and random poems in my head")
 
Kyle Hayward
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Skulls and bones can be beautiful as forms...They have a structured organic quality to them. Georgia O'Keefe painted them for this reason.
 
K Kaba
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We surround ourselves with what we like I guess? I do like skulls and skeletons. The way light and shadow plays over and around them, the curves and angles, the way they suggest how creatures move. Bone can be an interesting material in wearables too, it's relatively light and hard and responds mildly to temperature.

The rat skull seems to be bringing up interesting thoughts for you. Why not keep it around a while, see what shakes loose?
 
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The human skull has been an artistic focus for as long as there have been humans making art. Think about something for a moment. Where is does that "you" reside in the body? For almost everyone, it is that area of the skull right behind the eyes. That's where the essence of our personality is. So it seems a natural extension that the skull houses our soul/spirit/whatever. It's strange to note that the one major exceptance to this was the ancient Egyptians who regarded the brain as a useless organ. They preserved many of the other organs through mummification, but discarded the brain. It's also possible that because of the brain's unique composition when compared to other bodily organs, it simply would not mummify.

“So I'm lightin' out for the territory, ahead of the scared and the weak and the mean spirited, because Aunt Sally is fixin’ to adopt me and civilize me, and I can't stand it. I've been there before.”

 
Carmelo Panucci
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Cuz they're bad-ass
IMG_20240622_081346.jpg
Cattle skull with horns mounted above a door in a log house
 
Robert Ray
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I don't know why skulls have such a fascination with folks but they do like them.  when I go to the effort of firing up the foundry for a pour, I always cast a few lost foam skulls and people want them.
cast-skull.jpg
a lost foam cast skull with a bronzed helmet

Our inability to change everything should not stop us from changing what we can.

 
Su Ba
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I don’t know why bones may interest others, but I can say for myself, I have always been fascinated with bones ever since a small child. And I can’t say why, except that it seems to be an innate trait. Even as a quite young child, I had a bone collection, which I quickly learned to hide because it was not acceptable with my family. I would pick up any bone I found during my play in the woods. The draw of the bones led me to my career in veterinary medicine, plus a lifelong interest in animals, both domestic and wild. Nothing morbid surrounded those bones. No thoughts of mortality, only  an innocent fascination.

My interest is still grabbed by tools, jewelry, art, and other implements using bones. I’ve never made anything out of bone myself, but I have artistic crafty friends who make some beautiful art and jewelry with them. My favorite piece of personal decoration is a pendent of a Hawaiian style fishhook carved out of bone.

I have never been drawn to kill an animal for its bones, but once dead, I have no qualms of using the bone for something.  

My hubby and family have never openly shared my interest. I say openly because such interest was considered unacceptable, deviant behavior, taboo. Perhaps some of them hide their interest, as I had to hid my bone collection as a child. I finally landed up in Hawaii where an interest in bones is not considered "sick". Artists use them for their creations. Gardeners use them to improve their soil. Bones are routinely given to dogs as play toys.

Take me to any natural museum and you can find me in the dinosaur room, investigating the old dino fossils!

It's never too late to start! I retired to homestead on the slopes of Mauna Loa, an active volcano. I relate snippets of my endeavor on my blog : www.kaufarmer.blogspot.com

 
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I dunno really, but a few things come to mind… Is it Dios de los Muertos?  Skulls skull skulls.  Including sugar skulls to eat.  Anyone who celebrates this holiday, PLEASE educate this poor ignorant “gringa”.

Skulls and skeletons at Halloween,

Skulls painted by Georgia O’Keefe

And then there’s this:  it’s a study in anatomy, a painter who painted a few skulls would develop a much more detailed comprehension of anatomy.  I have heard it said that artists are told to conceptually paint the bones and muscles of any creature they paint.

At 40something I had an xray of my lower leg bones.  It appeared incredibly beautiful to me.  A sculpture, perfect in its contours and function.  It was very moving to see, and to know that my gait, my work, my muscular habits had shaped it.

I’m so thankful for my bones.

Further bone magic:  human babies have bow legs.  When they begin to walk, the load bearing stressed straighten those little bowed legs.  We can gain a lot of knowledge about care of our bones by observing the process of babies’ bones straightening as the babies learn to walk.

Best luck: satisfaction

Greatest curse, greed

 
r ranson
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Is there anything special to do to a skull that I found?  I rinsed it well and there is no organic material left on it.

If I boil it, would it risk the teeth falling out?

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I gently boil deer and elk skulls in Arm & Hammer washing soda.
It makes them creamy white, but do not boil for too long or it will eat them.

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r ranson
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Using a skull as a way to start a portrait and some deep thoughts on skulls and art.

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Amy Jurek
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To me human skulls are a challenge that is hard to put into words. They're mysterious, haunting, sloped & curved with crevices and sutures that seem to stitch them together. Strong yet fragile at the same time, a difficult feeling to convey. I love to use ink with sparing line work to feel the hard edges, using minimal shading and a line that fades away to feel the smooth curve of the skull. Hope that made some sense,
PXL_20210927_191928227-2.jpg
drawing of a human skull with all of it's strange curves
 
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Hello Amy. It looks to me that you met the challenge in your piece. I'm always amazed by the talent I see in the artwork of people. Pretty cool. Also,  very well said. Not easy to fashion words to fit a visual expression. Bravo.
 
r ranson
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On using the skull to help draw better portraits

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r ranson
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So... there is some fan art I want to paint that needs a herbivore skull like a deer or sheep.

I just happen to know where to get a sheep head in a week or so.  

Trying to remember how to make a head into a skull.  I seem to remember boiling it, but that's not an option right now.

I do have a big ants nest.  Something about cutting off the skin and putting it in a cage.  After a week or two the bones should be stripped...but does it work?

This feels almost too much work.  But I can't find a basic reproduction skull for under 5 dollars...

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r ranson wrote:...Trying to remember how to make a head into a skull.  I seem to remember boiling it, but that's not an option right now.

I do have a big ants nest...



There may be a way to do this with ants, but I think the preferred critter is the dermestid beetle.

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Drat, I don't think we have those.

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r ranson
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Well, that plan for skulls didn't work.  Apparently they wanted to make a special soup, which makes me feel good because there is usually so much waste when processing a sheep.  Most people only eat about 40% of it, it's nice to see someone taking everything but the skin and gallbladder.  

But we've also had an unkindness (of ravens) pecking about the farm this week and they dug up a sheeps skull that had been in the ground about a month.  Most of the flesh is gone but I haven't had the courage to clean it the rest of the way yet.  

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Skulls?  Why?   Cause they are cool.  Especially if they have horns ...

All mine have been from cows, found somewhere  ..

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
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Chickens dug this up for me the other day.



It's funny because I think this is the raccoon that attacked him a bit over 8 years ago.  Or one of the gang - there were about 12 that night.  Even if it isn't, I like to believe it is for a sense of closure.  

Thinking of painting a still life but can't yet decide if

a) I should do a photo shoot before I clean it and
b) what "story" would I tell?

All I can think of is Rocky Raccoon but I have neither gun nor bible.   I don't think I have any white hotel style towels either.  

Any other ideas?

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K Kaba
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If it was mine... I'd take a bunch of reference pictures.

And then I'd have some fun. With a story like that, I'd want some kind of trophy or talisman warning foolish raccoons! Maybe some twine or wire, beads, bells, feathers or bits of glass, who knows? It could end up as a wall or post decoration or something hanging like a wind chime.
 
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Not exactly on topic but maybe helpful if you want some skulls to have a reference to paint (in the right region).

Here in the south, I have observed 2 things that are good about fire ants.

I forgot one (it probably never existed) and the other is that if you put an animal head on some hardware cloth and on an ant hill, you'll have a very clean skull, very quickly. The hardware cloth is because they will bury it and you want to just pull it up to the top and not have to dig it out. They go crazy when it is moved to the top.

It makes me hate them less and gives me something to do with some of the heads of butchered and harvested animals. There is something about a nice clean skull that is very interesting.

"The genius of American farm experts is very well demonstrated here: they can take a solution and divide it neatly into two problems." -Wendell Berry

 
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One of the parks departments near us uses ants to clean bones.  They say it does a great job in just a few days.  But the ants will carry away anything they can, even skulls in a cage, so they have to tie the cage down really well.

I haven't had the courage to try it yet.  Not fire ants, but they love eating me and I get big welts from their bites.

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Interesting observation and unexpected. When I share a photo of the skull with art groups, especially ones keen on anatomy studies where we draw a lot of skulls to understand how to draw the head, their first reaction was weird.  They acted like the skull was fresh and full of deseased flesh.  Some suggested the need to get to a hospital for a rabies shot.  Even fresh, that's unlikely to be one of the dangers, although there are some, a big one being parasites.  In the ground for years, flesh completely gone, the only risk is the same as digging in the soil.  My tetanus shots are up to date as that is one way I really don't want to die.

For artists that glorify at length the importance of skulls in art, they sure are whimps when it comes down to nitty gritty real world stuff.  I'm kind of disillusioned with these art groups right now.

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Interesting video on using skulls in modern still life.  Composition and painting considerations.

He does two paintings of two different skulls, one study and one fancy painting. Got to rewatch this before doing my next still life.

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