A carving of any subject is always an interpretation within the creative imagination of the artist in wood.  This carving of a Confederate Artillery Officer has been carved in the Whittle-Carving style of using only knives to carve a representation of a historic figure.  The pose includes a cannon ram rod to suggest the artillery motif of the soldier and his outfit is suggestive of his uniform and equipment without being inclusive of the entire outfit.  A basswood block measuring nine inches tall, three inches wide and two inches deep was used to create the carving.

The photographic gallery begins with poses of the finished carving which was colored using artist oil paints thinned with boiled linseed oil.  Following this beginning gallery, the next gallery will be of photos of the process and progress as it develops towards it finished presentation.

      [Click on photos to enlarge]

The Shape Up phase begins with carving the head covering and head with shoulders established to a basic form along with the top part of the cannon ram-rod. The area below the basic form of the head is divided into thirds to fill in the body proportions within those divisions which is indicated with guidelines draw on each side of the body within the block of wood.

The initial Shape Up stage of the process is extremely important in creating a good foundation of the carving to basic form of the subject in order to receive the finish shaping of the subject in its final form.  The Shape Up stage is removing excess wood to expose the basic form and once the basic form has been established, then each portion of the form receive the finishing finesse shaping of the final form.

Ninety percent of the carving process is carving the basic form and the remaining ten percent is carving the details. Carving the details is putting the icing on the cake analogy but trying to add the icing on the cake before it is done will spoil the cake.  Attempting to carve the details before there is a proper foundation of the basic form is to spoil the outcome of the carving.  Carving is the journey through the process of carving form and then the detail.  Form follows the function and detail follows the form.  Haste makes waste so do not rush the process, rather savor the process as it all comes together.

Practice makes Progress ~ the more one carves the better one carves ~ keep carving and carving will keep you carving ~ “Would be carvers would be carvers if they would carve wood.”: