TOM TROLL came about from my good friend Don Stephenson who gave me a  drawing of a troll.    Don is a creative artist who comes up with delightful drawings from his imaginative mind and artistic ability.  He has given me a lot of good idea drawings for carving projects that will surely come to life as a carving.  Trolls are imaginary creatures who are more lovable than scary although like humans some trolls stray from their nobler purposes.  Trolls may be ugly but ugly is beautiful if one takes the time to see the beauty. Trolls may be thick skulled but  slowness of mind understands the simple.  Often it is the simple who are the wisest and beauty is an inner quality. Read the rest of this entry »

“The more one carves the better one carves,” is part of the learning journey of woodcarving.   The two photographs are of an early version of Lone Wolf that was the subject of a previous post in early 2008. https://woodbeecarver.com/?p=192 It was whittle-carved using only a knife out of a one and half inch square by six inches tall block of basswood.  It was colored using the Painting Softly method of artist oil paint mixed with boiled linseed oil.  It was based on earlier versions of the same pose carved several times out of a smaller piece of basswood. Read the rest of this entry »

ELKHORN is another example that every carving project is a learning journey of attempting to carve certain effects into a carving.  Native Americans have been a good subject for carving projects because of their noble facial features and ornamentation of their dress. Read the rest of this entry »

LES R. MOORE is a three and a quarter  inch tall caricature carved out of basswood in the Whittle-Carving style of carving only with a knife.  He is stained with artist oil paint color Raw Sienna mixed with boiled linseed oil and finished off with a coat of Deft brushing lacquer.  Being a small figure who chomps on his cigar with a carefree attitude, Les is more than he seems.  He is kind of like a first impression in that what you first see is not always what you get.  Les never jumps to conclusions nor does he make quick decisions for there is more to Les than meets the eye.  He is a caricature carving who invites a studied look to see more  of Les. Read the rest of this entry »

Mahogany Indian bust was carved out of one and three quarter inch square by two and half inch tall block of very old mahogany given to me by a carving friend from Michigan.  It was carved using traditional carving tools with knife carving used only for detail work.  It was finished using Howard Feed-N-Wax which brought out the natural beauty of old mahogany. Read the rest of this entry »

Don Stephenson, a member of the Dayton Carvers Guild, is a prolific artist who keeps coming up with carving project ideas.  In fact, he keeps coming up with  so many good ideas that I have nick named him the “Idea Monster” to which he emailed me back a drawing of the proverbial “light-bulb idea icon”with a monster-ish face on it. Read the rest of this entry »

A “Monochrome” finish is a one color or natural finish that is illustrated in this photograph of four Whittle Folk Spuds.  What the natural finish does is force the viewer to take a closer look at the carved features of a sculpture.  A natural finish shows off the detail of the carving cuts and the overall design of the sculpture.  A “Polychrome” finish is many colors that creates another kind of aesthetic beauty.  Read the rest of this entry »