Carvings
I switched from leather carving to woodcarving in 1980 and hacked away at it until I retired in 1995. Finally, I had time to attend some seminars and truly became a woodcarver concentrating in bird carvings. When I took up woodcarving I told Diana, "This will be a nice inexpensive hobby. All I need is a pocket knife and a limb!" One of my dumber observations.
A few years ago, I was carving at the Doctor's office. A lady approached, watched me for a while and then asked, "Is woodcarving your hobby?""No Ma'am," I answered humorously, "it is my addiction." Recently I realized the Freudian truth in this reply. It is classic addiction. I could not quit woodcarving if I tried; because I could never "want to".
Although classified as a wildlife carver; I have worked in several different genre including stylized, relief, caricature and bark carving. I use both power and hand tools, use any available wood, paint with watercolor, and finish unpainted pieces with tung oil. My carvings can best be described as impressionistic realism. I try and stay as near as possible to the correct ratios and anatomy of the animals I carve. However, my objective is a piece of art not a replication of nature. I will exaggerate/change whatever is necessary to achieve this goal.
Right click on photo and then click on open link in new window to enlarge them.
The peregrine is perched on a piece of wood I intend to use for another carving.
This wild cherry hawk has not been dyed, stained or painted. Only coated with tung oil.
More information on upkik (another spelling for ookpik) is in the area "carvings in progress".
The "Early Snow" bear was a trial run for me. There is a very large area of bad wood on the left shoulder and along the side of the muzzle. These areas had to be carved out and the hole filled with an epoxy mix. This stuff cannot be burned (as fur); but, it can be shaped before setting. The "fill" is not as obvious when viewing the bear as it is when viewing the photos. In the contract I use for commissioned pieces, I offer to repair any future damage with a couple of caveats. Early Snow was an effort to make sure I could fulfill a really bad incidence of necessary repair work.
I finished this dolphin in black walnut. It is carved as a graduation present for Breanna Cheri. I will leave the photos in the "Carving Works in Progress" area for a while.
In the song Calypso, John Denver sang, "To live on the land we must learn from the sea." Breanna is studying marine biology. If there is any hope for humanity living with the changing climate; it is with people like Breanna.
I do commission pieces and occasionally have carvings that I am willing to sell.
Our family friend, Joanna Edwards, requested a commissioned piece. She wanted a simple dogwood cross. I told her that dogwood was a poor choice of wood as it was impossible to find in the size needed, that I did not carve simple figures and finally that I did not carve cheap. We agreed on a price and she allowed me to design the cross. My hard drive crashed after I mailed the cross and I lost all photos of the finished piece. These photos are of the second (and last) commissioned cross.
"Angel at the Dawn of Creation" was commissioned by a friend. "It is a gift for my office manager; it has to be an angel." Everything else was left up to me. I modeled the piece in clay prior to carving. Initially, I thought of doing a "mourning angel" at Easter. I had the figure standing with wings wrapped around the body. This ended up too much like a pyramid. Luckily the clay is non-hardening. I tore the wings and head off many times before ending up with the design shown. My intention is to show an angel, on a mountain top, kneeling in awe, at the moment God commanded, "Let there be light!" This carving using tupelo is about 15 inches tall, painted with watercolor.
Although I have been encouraged to do more; I do not enjoy carving human figures
The first figure is about 24 inches tall. The feathers are carved separately and inserted into the carving. From left to right they are Red-tail Hawk, Great Horned Owl, Golden Eagle (immature). The second about 15 inches with a lacewood base. The powder horn is a map of the Missouri River Valley circa 1810 showing rivers, tribes and trading posts. Both carvings are from from basswood.
My current area of concentration is wildlife "in-the-round"
Ms Tod, 2011, basswood,8" carving on 10"x10" cedar base. Grass carved as separate inserts. Lichen is put on with a toothpick and then painted. Tracks are put on using pyrography. Paint is watercolor. Tod is an old English term for fox. My concept of what is happening here is Ms Tod saying, "Those lazy dogs just will not keep up today!"
Bucephalus Rising (left) is a tribute to the favorite war horse of Alexander the great. This16” carving is butternut with a burned mane, tail and eyes. The grain really cooperated on the horse’s right side and is pretty good on the left. It has been dry sanded to 400 grit, wet sanded with Danish oil using 5.0 steel wool and then finished with several coats of tung oil.Bucephalus was killed in action and this is my tribute to him rising after the battle. The mane, tail and eye of this butternut carving are burned and the piece is finished with tung oil.
The 19" rearing horse is a Shire. I wanted something other than the usual thoroughbreds and quarter horses. This basswood carving is painted with watercolor and finished with Krylon matte spray.
Something happened to the paint on the horse bust. It started crackling and I will have to sand away a majority of the paint and redo the paining part. See: Carvings In Progress
"Camptown Bay" is named from the old "Camptown Racetrack" song and specifically the lines, "Bet my money on the bob-tail nag, somebody bet on the bay.
I knew I had made the right choice when watching American Pharoah in the Kentucky Derby. The carving is about 12", basswood on a black walnut base. The horseshoe is one found here on the ranch. Most likely owned by Diana's grandfather J.A. Smith. It is painted with watercolor.I found the base in a discard bin at the local hardwood store. They were not sure what to charge, told me to just take it, I insisted on paying and we agree on $3.50.
This carving is titled "The Rival". Both cats are looking at a male cougar (rival) in the distance. The male is thinking, "Damn he's big!" The female is thinking, "Now this is getting interesting. The cougars are 6"x8", basswood with watercolor paint. The lichen is artist paste put on with a toothpick..
Black bear sow and cub are carved from basswood. They are basswood painted with a mixture of raw sienna, burnt umber and yellow ochre. The hair is first gouged, then stoned with a small, cone shaped, white stone and then burned with a pyrography pen. The eyes, nose and claws are colored with a burning pen.
This roughout had a crack and decaying wood in the muzzle. I wanted to experiment with repairing carvings. It seemed that I would have to carve off the whole muzzle and use epoxy putty to rebuild. But by opening the split and carving away the soft wood, I was able to use a minimum of epoxy and finish the carving. The rocks are painted to resemble the "red rocks" found in southern Utah. The bear belongs to Ford Kelley. We met in 1963 when we reported for training with the U.S. Peace Corps. Over a half century of friendship!
Although I do love carving animals, birds are a special interest for me.
Decoys were all I ever intended to carve when I started. My first piece was a 1/2 decoy carved from the leg of a worktable I was making. I told Diana that this would be a wonderful hobby, all I needed was a pocket knife and a limb. Boy, was that wrong. If all costs since 1980 are thrown in; woodcarving has run me well into the 5 figure range. The carving library alone is over 200 volumes.
In 1995, I retired from the National Park Service and had time to concentrate on woodcarving. Both of the eagles are basswood painted with watercolor. The one on the left stands about 12" and the one on the right about 17". The eagle w/fish now belongs to Richard Guraedy. The eagle on left was given to Diana as a birthday gift.
The Harris Hawk is on a cypress knee slab, the kestrel is on a piece of stone from New Mexico (tree is carved) and the eagle bust stands alone. All are painted with watercolor and carved from basswood. The Harris Hawk belongs to our friends Paul and Teri. The eagle bust was a wedding gift to our friends LouNPat of Eagle, Alaska. The kestrel will remain in my personal collection.
This snowy owl is my lone venture into painting with oils. I enjoyed everything except the long drying period. I do not like acrylics, oil would be almost like learning to paint from the beginning........so watercolor remains my choice. This carving now belongs to David and Sunnie Guraedy.
And I do venture into the area known as stylized or impressionistic:
The cedar owl started in clay as a realistic piece. As I put in the eye "sockets" I started thinking about the belief that an owl heard calling in the night could mean death is soon to follow. Realism would not work! I smoothed out most of the owl and reworked the clay to form the "Night messenger". Sunnie loves the owl and has said consider it on permanent loan to you. When you are gone, "I want this piece." Cedar is from a tree that went down at the Col. William Jones House, an Indiana State Park where Diana worked as an Interpreter.
The black walnut piece, "Cliff Unbound", was carved in honor of a dying friend. Other carvers were sending him carved figures. I told him that too often the widow drops from the scene after a husbands death. I would carve a tribute to him, to be given to his wife after he died. His only request was to see a photo of the carving. A deadline I barely made. The uncarved wood at the base represents life's potential, the gouged carving the tribulations that make us what we are and the smooth top is the transitioning into whatever awaits us after this life is completed.
The redwood cat is my copy of a famous archaeological find from Florida. It fascinates me that the carver did this kind of work without metal. The other pieces are in wormy butternut.