Whittle Folk Clown Lite is a three and a half inch tall caricature of a clown whittle-carved only with a knife.  He is holding a balloon and a feather to figure out which one is lighter.  His coat of checker board plaid are  lines carved to give texture as well as a trough to separate the colors.  The coat tail  as well as the extra long tie flair outward to give a sense of movement.  His head is turned slightly to his left to add to the sense of movement. 

A red rubber ball nose is carved in a way to appear sitting on the end of his nose. The outline for the white smile is carved to form a trough so the paint would not bleed into the black beard portion of the face.  His hair is the color orange as are his larger than life shoes.  The clownish colors of his clothes gives him a bright and fun loving attitude that is expected of a clown.  However it is the seriousness of his dilemma of which is lighter, a feather or a balloon that creates a sense of pathos and puzzlement.

There is a clown in all of us that is both humorous and pathetic at the same time.  We try to find the balance between” not too heavy” and “not too lite” be it in acting the clown or taking life too seriously.  Into our drab outlook we would like to “clown it up” while the somber side says, “don’t make a fool of yourself.” This clown carving is telling us to balance the right and the left, the up and the down, the half full and the half empty and to laugh amid the tears.

That is what being “CLOWN LITE” is all about.

CLOWN LITE is another way of being relaxed rather than uptight.  Study the four photographs of the clown from four different views to notice that there are no straight lines.  There are only curving lines for the eye to travel while viewing the various parts of this carving.

Carvings should not be telephone poles because straight lines are uninteresting.  Carvings should be designed to have curving  or crooked lines all over the carving to allow the eyes to have a pleasant journey of sight seeing over the entire carving.

Study Clown Lite to see the various twists and turns of interesting movement leading the eyes on to the next discovery of what all makes up the carving.  In other words there is more to the clown that meets the eye. If that is seen then this carving has fulfilled its purpose of being  its “Clowning Experience.”