The WOOD BEE CARVER has been carving seriously since 1975 as a hobby carver who has dedicated himself to always be an amateur carver. “Amateur” means one who does what one does for the love of doing it while also learning by doing and improving one’s skills, abilities and interests while doing what one loves to do.

In the same frame of understanding, my philosophy developed to say, “Would be carvers would be carver if they would carve wood,” which implies the “amateur” ever learning and ever growing aspect of the carving experience.   Wood carving is using the trial and error method of learning while doing with the assumption being that the more one carves, the better one becomes since so much of the carving experience is “practice, practice, practice.” The “Amateur carver” appreciates the friendship with other carvers because one can learn so much from “fellow travelers on the journey of wood carving.” Being a part of a wood carving club is a way to offer encouragement to one another.

This “amateur love affair with carving” causes one to try to learn as much as one can, be more observant and stretch ones abilities by trying new carving projects.  This can help to explain why we wood carvers subscribe to all the wood carving magazines, purchase carving books, take wood carving classes and purchase more tools all in the hope that we can fulfill the inner fire of the soul to create through the carving experience.  The soul of the “amateur carver” gets so  much benefit from attending wood carving shows to see what other carvers are doing but derives an even greater benefit by being a participant in wood carving shows.

Entering one’s carvings in competition at wood carving shows is another way to grow in the carving experience.  The only person one is competing with when one enters carvings in a show is one’s self.   The judged competition serves the purpose of allowing the judges to evaluate one’s entries.  The “Amateur” seeks to learn from the competition experience and to improve upon each successive entry as the years go by and experience improves.

Whenever a carver reaches the point of thinking of one’s self as having outgrown the “Amateur” status and has become “professional” then one looses the creative edge of being on one’s toes in anticipation of doing a better carving yet to be carved.  Always the “amateur” is to continue on the “cutting edge” of becoming the best one can be.