In the previous posting on Go By Study the emphasis was placed upon being able to “see” a carving project in one’s imagination, in a block of wood and while carving the project to its basic form. The series of four photographs above shows examples of the progressive stages in carving a hillbilly carrying a jug of corn squeezings.  The figure on the left shows the hat, head and chest carved to basic form with the remaining portion of the block marked with guidelines.  The center figure is carved to basic form while the figure on the right is a finished figure.  The four views provide a visual tutorial of the observation of comparison for a Go By lesson.

The use of a Go By is to help in this visual study by training the carver’s imagination to mentally carve what is seen in a Go By.  The series of photographs in this posting is to visually study a finished carving in its end result of finish detail carving by imagining backward as to what was involved to get the carving to this final stage.  There is a variety of carving subjects to visually study while imagining what is involved to carve a similar subject.  Let the pictures without words tell the story that each Go By has to tell just by observation.