Gone hoboing!!!

Lately, I have been doing a few hobos. They are good practice for doing complete figures, getting the proportions correct, working on placement of arms and legs for movement, and working on wrinkles. All three of those things are difficult and take practice. What better practice than a few hobos. 
     Anyway, I hope you like these guys.

Busy summer

Man, have I been busy since summer started. I finally finished the flooring, spackle and painting of my shop. The floor looks great (for used laminate) and makes the shop so much lighter than OSB flooring.

 So, now I can continue to focus on getting ready for the Nampa Arts and Crafts Festival in August. I have more than 80 carvings for sale, not including the Christmas ornaments. I have about 35 of those and need to do some more. I am doing a flying angel as well as a puppy in a stocking, plus the ones I have left over from previous years. I should have between 25 and 50 of each for the year.

So I have been doing the things that I think would sell. I purchased the Harley Refsal video "Figure Carving the Scandinavian Style with Harley Refsal", which is a very good instructional video on the flat-plane carving style. So I did a couple of those types of figures to practice. I like the style as it is very clean and has large flat planes rather than many thousands of facets.

I have been doing some dogs as they seem to sell well, and it gives me more practice for my beginner carving class on July 25. This one is patterned after one of Tom Wolfe's dogs in his book, although I added a few of my own touches.

 Then I finished another of my hobo carvings, another hobo chopping wood for a free lunch. This one came out better than the last one, I think.

So, back to carving for the show in August, plus the one in November, the Meridian Middle School Craft Fair. Hope to see you there!

Etsy store

I finally created an Etsy store (Eric Owens Art) to list some of my art. I will be selling some of my carvings, some paintings and some photography. I may even list some of my wife's carvings and knitted things (but only if she bribes me with my favorite, chocolate cream pie!)

Anyway, check it out on Etsy to see some of my art. If you see something you like, I have a few bills that need to be paid off. So buy something already! If you don't see anything you like, drop me a line and tell me what you want. I do commissions and would love for you to own a special work of art to proudly display in your place.

Thanks!

Tri-Cities Rendezvous

We just returned from the annual Tri-Cities Woodcarving Club Rendezvous, held the 2nd weekend of June in Kennewick, Washington. We had a great time taking 4 classes of 3 hours each (I taught two classes), seeing old friends again, and meeting new ones. What a great opportunity to take some no-pressure classes (all for free, except class wood supplies, which are minimal) and to learn a new technique, find a neat project or just to see what else is available. Many of the instructors come up with their own projects, which can be completed by most carvers within the allotted time. The club provides lunch both days, a snack table, and dinner both days, as well. All in all, other than the cost of a motel and gas, it is a pretty inexpensive weekend. Many thanks go out to Bob Gough, Jerry and Judith Dilley, Lanny, Leo Forsha, and all the members of the Tri-Cities Woodcarving Club for their hospitality and friendship and for their efforts in putting on their Rendezvous. Below are some examples of classes offered there this weekend.

These pictures are offered by Dave Disselbrett from Oregon (Silverton/Mt. Angel area) (www.carvingsbydave.blogspot.com) and are simple folk art projects.

The Tri-Cities Woodcarving Club has a website (www.tri-citieswoodcarvingclub.blogspot.com) and you can find them on Facebook as well. What a nice group of folks to work with.

I have a picture of the bark carving that I entered in their competition at the Rendezvous. It was my first bark carving. It won first place. This is the 2nd year I won first place in this competition. What do you think?

I have been working on putting more movement into my carvings, so I started working on a hobo character, from Harold Enlow's book "How to Carve Hobos", which has some great patterns. The first one I did was a hobo chopping wood for his lunch. All in all I think it turned out pretty well. I am working on another one with more detail. We'll see how that one goes. I hope you like this guy.

Gone to the dogs

     I have been busy the past few months. I am going to teach 2 classes at the Tri-Cities (Pasco-Richland-Kennewick, Washington) Woodcarving Club's annual Rendezvous this coming weekend (June 6-9). The 2 classes are miniature figures (under 2 inches) and friendship cane face segments. 
     I will also be teaching a class at Woodcraft in July (25th). That class will be dogs. I have been doing a few dogs to get ready. So the first 3 are ones the attendees will be able to do in class. The last one (the lying dog) is one I did from an old pattern. I really like him, but will change some details on my next one. They are really fun to carve.

And I completed another one of those hobo heads I really enjoy doing. They just show so much expression. I hope you like them too. Comments are appreciated.

My latest Viking carving

This rough looking guy is my latest creation. My friend, Linda Long, wanted a viking carving to celebrate and honor her viking heritage. It took me a while to get started on it and finish it, what with teaching at Woodcraft and getting ready for summer and the end of the school year, but finally he is off the paint table and onto the shelf, waiting for his new owner to pick him up. I hope you enjoy him as much as I do.

Clowns and faces

There's just something about clowns that I enjoy watching and being part of. Not that I want to be a clown. I am enough of a clown and klutz on my own without all the big shoes, funny clothes and face paint. I just enjoy a good clown. They make me laugh. I finished carving a couple of clowns lately. One is a hobo clown and the other is a goofy sort of circus clown. I also finished a couple of clown heads, but I have not finished the bodies for them. I will post the pictures later when I am finished with them.

Anyway, here are the clown busts I finished.

 This fella is my hobo clown, based loosely on a Pete LeClair hobo clown bust . I like him.

 This is my traditional painted clown face. I think he turned out well.

 Here is a friendship cane face segment. This was in a class taught by CCA and IWG member, Gene Fuller. The separate faces were different expressions. I am trying tom get better at defining different facial expressions. Quite the challenge to get some correct. I will be teaching a similar class at the Rendezvous in the Tri-Cities at Kennewick, Washington, in June of this year.

 Happy, smiling.

 Apprehensive, expectant?

 Quizzical, not sure.

Totally not sure what I was going for here. Any ideas? Drunken look?

I hope you enjoy the pictures. Any feedback is welcome.