Grandma and Grandpa carving

I just finished this carving for a former student of mine, who wanted a carving of her grandma and grandpa. She loved the picture. Hope the grandparents also love it.

Thanks for looking, and your comments are always welcome. 

Trying some new stuff...what do you think?

I have been trying some new stuff lately, as well as trying to complete a commission for a former student of mine. These elderly gentlemen were a challenge getting the faces correct, and balancing them on a tie they were wearing. I think it came out OK, but then I am biased.

I will start teaching classes at the local WoodCraft store in January. The plan is to teach beginning carving classes every other month for the first year (2013) then the next year kick it up a notch. Hopefully that will create a group of carvers that want to learn how to get better and are willign to take a few classes along the way, as well as join the Idaho Woodcarvers Guild.

Anyway, here are the new carvings. Hope you enjoy them.

 

Craft Show

 

A few selected carvings.

I enjoy carving.

 

I have not been able to post for quite a while, since I have been busy getting ready for the Meridian Middle School Craft Show, trying to get a lot of carvings ready for sale. So far, after only one day, sales are promising. We'll be back at it again tomorrow, and I would love to sell out. Here's a few photos. hope you enjoy!

Always gets his man!

I just finished this guy. He is a sheriff who always gets his man, even if he looks a little worse for wear after he locks up the bad guy!

 

I carved him for a lady who bought one of my carvings; a carving of a bad guy, sort of an outlaw and she wanted a  lawman to balance out her display. I hope she likes it!

Fun times!

A couple of finished carvings I completed this week. This Boy Scout carving has been sitting on my carving bench for a few years, and I finally got him done. It is a small carving and I plan on getting a larger one finished. I am in the process of doing that as we speak.

This "hippie" bear was done as a request for my cousin, Maryann. She wanted a bear that was of the hippie theme with flip-flops and tie-dye. I think he looks pretty good!

I hope you enjoy looking as much as I enjoyed carving these two carvings. Thanks for looking. Comments are welcome and appreciated.

Finally!

Been busy this week, finishing one carving I started last year, and doing another couple of carvings. The cowboy is one I have been doing as a teaching activity with a friend, showing him how I carve my cowboy busts.

 

This carving is one I started in a class last year. I did the whole body in class, then added the base and snowshoes later. I did not like the head, so I added another head, then came up with the idea of him holding a tire he somehow fished out of his ice hole.

This Indian carving I completed this week. It was a good project to do since I had never done a full-sized figure of an Indian. Anyway, I hope you enjoy these pictures. Thanks for looking.

Another fireman

This carving was created for an old friend of mine, John Walker, who is a fireman in North Caroline. He was the best man at our wedding in 1984, and remains a good friend to this day. In a previous post I posted a picture of a smaller bust of a fireman I completed, and this one I finished yesterday for John (or Doc as we have called him for years). Many thanks, Doc, for all the great memories.

Something New

I thought I would create a fireman carving for a friend of mine. John Walker and I go back a long way; in fact, he was the best man at my wedding in '84. Since then we have not spent a great deal of time together. However, our friendship is the sort that when we talk or get together, it is as if no time has elapsed. He wanted a carving of a fireman, and this is one I made of a Peter Ortel (retired NY firefighter) design. Eventually, I will post a carving of one I will create with John's (Doc) ideas incorporated. For now, I hope you like him.

I also created a Norwegian character and a bottle stopper as well. These carvings were done in the past week, and were really fun to create. Hope you enjoy the pictures. Feel free to comment.

Another carving

Here is a fellow I have finally finished. He is just sitting on a park bench watching the world go by and "Chillin'".

New Carvings

Wow! I had a great time at Kennewick, Washington, for their annual Tri-Cities Rendezvous. The Rendezvous is a 3 day carving event, with a chance to teach or take 4 carving classes. I had a chance to teach a class and took two others.What a great bunch of folks at the Tri-Cities Woodcarving club in Kennewick, Washington. Thanks for letting me attend and teach a class. See ya next year, same spot, same time.

 

Here I am teaching my class at the Rendezvous.

 

 Ken Peterson is taking a Native American class from Ron Lunde, owner of Cascade Carvers Supply, in Kennewick, Washington.

Bob Rudkin is enjoying his turning class, turning out several Chinese balls, which are balls within another ball.

This was my winning entry in the carving contest at Tri-Cities Rendezvous. I am quite proud of him.

I finally finished my first viking warrior. I will definitely be doing more of them, as he was fun to do. There are so many possibilities with these characters.

This is my first attempt at a Norwegian Santa Claus, loosely based on a Harley Refsal character from his book "Whittling Little Folk". He is a neat character that needs a good home.

 

19th Annual Woodcarvers Jamboree

I just finished a great weekend carving with Chris Hammack, a member of the Caricature Carvers of America. Chris was in town along with Rick Jensen (bark houses), Rick Harney (low relief) and Dave Stetson (cowboy carver) for the annual Woodcarvers Jamboree in Boise, Idaho. What a great weekend. I was in the class and chose to do 3 half-busts (from waist up) and a bottle stopper.

This class was a lot of fun. Muchas gracias to my instructor from Texas! These projects were a lot of fun.

Cowboy cook

 

      

    
Wow! I like this guy. Now I have to send him off to Texas. Hope he likes his new home. There are more photos in my Picasaweb album. Thanks for looking. Feel free to comment on my photos.

Photographs

In addition to woodcarving, I also dabble in photography. Having traveled fairly extensively (43 states, 7 countries), I have quite a collection of photographs. I would like to post a few for the enjoyment of others. Maybe you can enjoy them as much as I have over the years.

One of the bench lakes on the lateral moraine above Redfish lake, in the Sawtooth National Recreation area, near Stanley, Idaho

                                          This is Heceta Head Lighthouse, on the Oregon coast.

                                   The Sawtooth range, looking from Little Redfish lake. Beautiful!

 

This is Yaquina Bay lighthouse, on the Oregon coast.

I hope you enjoy these pictures. More to come later!

Woodcarving Illustrated 2012 Best Carving Design Contest

I just sent off my entry form for the 2012 WCI Best Carving Design contest. Let's hope it does well. Winning is not important, but sharing my art is what I do this for.

This fellow is in love! He hopes his vision of beauty will say yes, despite their size differences. You can't see his left hand, but his fingers are crossed behind his back, hoping she will say YES! Here's to true love!

"NO-SEE-UMS"

    John Greener, Norm Sullivan and I (all members of the Idaho Woodcarvers Guild, (www.idahowoodcarversguild.org) did a demo of these "no-see-ums" at the Woodcraft store in Boise this past Saturday (April 7, 2012) as a publicity for the club, to demonstrate basic carving, and to plug the sale of carving tools at Woodcraft. It went very well, even with only a handful of people showing up. They were interested, and one gentleman signed up to take carving classes. These were easy simple projects that can be completed using scrap wood, and for carvers who are reluctant to try carving eyes in small carvings, these do not require eyes.
     I urge beginning carvers to give these a try. They are easy to do, the possibilities are endless, and it is great practice in the other mechanics of carving faces. Many carvers are reluctant to carve faces. I find them a great opportunity to recreate the endless faces I see every day. These small projects allow inexperienced carvers the chance to get some great practice in carving different faces. And if they do not work out very well, they make great "designer firewood". After all, it is wood, so it will burn. Just toss it in the fire and start over.
     Anyway, enjoy these projects, and happy carving!

Some of my recent carvings

 A carving I did for a librarian friend of mine, titled the "Libearian"

                                                        This fellow is proud of his catch. (SOLD)

          I like the smile on this fellow, looks like Gerald McRaney from "Major Dad". For

sale: $75

 

                                    My Boy Scout sign, with the Scout Law on the base.

     I like this carving, "A Bearican Gothic". It won an award at the 2012 Idaho Artistry in Wood Show.             For sale:  $100

This carving is titled "Size Does Not Matter", and won a ribbon at the 2012 Artistry in Wood Show in Boise. For sale:  $150

Latest carving (a commission)

This carving is my latest creation. I created this based on a customer's request of a carving of a friend who was retiring. The customer wanted the subject's favorite teams, as well as his favorite avocations (NASCAR, Nike, etc.). I think it turned out pretty well, if I don't say so myself. However, the glasses were difficult to create. The subject had glasses without the frame on the bottom, so creating glasses that came close was not the easiest thing to do.
I will let you know after I deliver to the customer whether they like it or not. Wish me luck!
Update (April 7, 2012): The customers loved it. So do I!

First blog

Welcome to my blog! I hope you enjoy watching and listening to me as I take this journey called life. I will post carvings, paintings, and random thoughts about life in general, and how I enjoy it in particular. 

I look forward to hearing from anyone out there who is listening.