Whittle Doodles are an exercise of imaginative free hand carving in a block of wood using only knives to carve a variety of whimsical subjects in the round, shallow and deep relief, chip carving and incised carving in a Whittle-Carving style. The blocks of wood used can be a variety of sizes from an inch square up to a four-inch square by fifteen inches tall. In this latest version called “Whittle Doodle Extreme” the basswood block measures eleven inches tall by just shy of four inches square. The term “extreme” describes both the size and the variety of carved subjects and styles of carving using only knives to do the carving.
FARM GOTHIC is a parody on the iconic Grant Wood painting “American Gothic,” that is a depiction of a farm couple. In this case the farmer is holding an ear of corn and the farmer’s wife is holding an apple pie inscribed with a wheat design on the upper crust of the pie.
“Quaker Meeting” is a nostalgic interpretation of a husband and wife of the Religious Society of Friends or Quakers. Each figure was carved as a single carving and then mounted together on a base for permanent display.