Twenty-five years ago, the Wood Bee Carver coined this instructional phrase for woodcarving instruction ~ “Wood carving is Agony and Ecstasy, but Ecstasy always follows the Agony.” This saying helped to explain a common experience this carver had with almost every carving project in its beginning stage of development. Even after almost fifty years of carving, this experience occurs at the beginning stage of any carving project. It is an experience of a feeling that the project will not turn out the way it has been imagined and that it will be a mess or a disaster. This feeling is called the “Agony” stage. Likewise, once this Agony feeling is accepted for what it is as the “tension of the creative process,” the next stage of “Ecstasy” comes to the forefront as the “creative process opens to the fix” by turning the chaos into a path forward. The lesson to be learned, is not to give up too soon but to trust the creative process to work with the tension of challenges by allowing imagination to guide towards the “fix” as the carving project develops on its way to it finishing touches. Ecstasy always follows the Agony, so relax to continue to carve out of chaos.
Keith Radick has a strong face with character that is a good subject for study. He is not only an accomplished carver but he also is a good sport by granting me permission to use his face for this study. The face on a WANTED poster is intended to be studied in case you ever see this character.
Mark Akers is one of the instructors at the October Renegade Woodcarving Roundup in Lebanon, TN. The photos are of some of his projects of shelf sitters, bottle stopper and ornament. The 3 monsters come from the same rough out. Attendees at the Round Up are sure to have a good time.
HAVE HOE – WILL PLANT is a commission carving of a lady gardener that is carved out of a seven inch tall, two inch by three inch block of basswood using a series of carving knives. The simple verbal description included a gray hair lady with a braid draping over her right shoulder with length going to her waist. She is wearing a light blue tee shirt, khaki shorts, red tennis shoes, and is holding a packet of seeds in one hand and the hoe leaning on her left shoulder. A cat is rubbing against her right leg at the ankle.
Old Sawdust is a carving representing an old wood worker who represents the old days of working with hands guided by the accumulated experience of working with wood. He is holding a plane, a saw and has a pencil in the pocket of his apron. Each of those tools were essential for hands on craftsmanship. There are lessons to learn by listening to old timers who tell of what was learned in the experience of doing. Lessons that contemporary wood carvers can apply to the carving experience since much of carving is done by hand (with apologies to power carvers).
“A one tracked mind,” implies that a person is overly committed to only one main pursuit that consumes one’s energy, thinking and motivation. Life on the “one track” can be very exhausting, time consuming and misses smelling the roses along the way. The wisdom in the old saying, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” is comparable to having a “one track mind.” Having a well-rounded approach with varied experiences can open up the door to a creative personality of becoming the best we can be. The creative power of a hobby like wood carving can widen the horizon of beauty in one’s life and purpose.
Whittle Doodles are doodling with a knife in a block of wood to carve a variety of subjects and themes as a demonstration of carvings done using only a knife. Whimsical in nature and yet a way to illustrate the art and practice of carving in a small and restricted area.
A commissioned carving project of a carpenter nonchalantly holding his hammer while tapping its head into the palm of his other hand is carved out of a seven-inch-tall block of basswood with the words “HAVE HAMMER ~ WILL TRAVEL” incised into the base of the carving.