Pondering Pilgrimage

Pastor Ed's Church

2011-06-06T22:16:00.000-07:00

I carved this church for our Pastor in honor of the church he has been given to lead and guide and in recognition of the time he spent with us. I wanted to create a stone foundation with mostly muted colors but decided to add a splash of color to the front door and window at the last minute.

Max's Monkey

2011-06-06T21:40:00.000-07:00

Max's Monkey: Original piece carved for some of my HC family

Travels

2011-06-04T20:55:00.000-07:00

Various Carvings I noticed during a recent trip.

2011-04-04T19:29:00.000-07:00

2 Article Carvings:

Left: Based on Don Dearolf in the Fall 2009 WoodCarving Illustrated

Center: Based on Christmas Elf Ornaments, Mark Gargac. Find the article in

Handcarved Holiday Gifts

Right: A 4 foot tall Ninja turtle I found in a Karate Studio in small town Wisconsin

Buildings

2011-04-04T19:14:00.000-07:00

Left: Carving from

Tony Erickson's article in Carving Magazine

Center: My own twist on the whimsical stone church

Right: Original - Stylized two story house

All about footwear

2011-04-04T18:59:00.000-07:00

3 New boots:

Left - Heart Detail Cowgirl Boot

Center - Ol' Reliable Hiking Boot

Right - Wing detail Boot

Some new finished pieces

2011-04-04T18:39:00.000-07:00

3 originals:

Left - penguin slightly stylized

Center - penguin with backpack, stylized/folk/caricature

Right - Mini, spruce style, pine cone

New Originals 2 of 2

2011-03-04T14:14:00.000-08:00

Top: Business Card Holder

Left: Penguin

Right: Penguin with backpack

New Originals 1 of 2

2011-03-04T14:04:00.000-08:00

Three new boot designs

Left: Heart detail boot

Right: Wing detail boot

Center: Hiking boot

past and present

2011-03-04T13:50:00.000-08:00

M.Shipley Santa Painted

Two new carvings

Left: Letter opener #1 sometime '10

Right: Letter opener #2 Jan '11

DEC carvings 2.0

2011-01-22T19:25:00.000-08:00

Left: Turkey -original stylized

Right: Shipley 2 B

DEC carvings (a bit late)

2011-01-22T18:54:00.000-08:00

Left Stetson Santa

Center Shipley Santa

Right Rhadigan

Cold weather carvings

2010-12-20T06:43:00.000-08:00

I may make another post today, time permitting. I have spent much of the pre-Christmas season carving through the Woodcarving Illustrated Hand carved Holiday Gifts: Volume II book. Thanks to all the contributing carvers/authors for the interesting projects. The projects have been interesting, diverse and challenging.

mini carvings 2.0

2010-11-11T18:39:00.000-08:00

3 other minis that were carved around the same time. The left most is "XXX" moonshine, next "liter bottle" and finally the "fire water" jug.

Mini Carving series

2010-11-11T18:25:00.000-08:00

These three carvings are some miniature carvings that I was playing around with. They are no larger than the diameter of a quarter both width and height. The left most is a "fall" pumpkin I carved for Emily, the middle is for the complaints department "please take a number", the right most carving is a bottle of "make yer mark." The size of these pieces provided some very unique challenges but I enjoyed carving each of them.

Nov carvings

2010-11-11T18:08:00.000-08:00

Two new Santa carvings: The top will be hanging from his outstretched arm and the bottom will stand as is. I only painted some light washes on the arm cuffs and feet of the top Santa to highlight the grain but the picture does not show the basswood grain well.

Carvings 9.20 Part Deux

2010-09-20T13:19:00.000-07:00

Santa Ornament (Maybe my favorite piece so far. It was a perfect combination of difficulty and uniqueness)
Santa spool (This was a challenging piece. Working with a new wood and with a predefined piece).

Carvings 9.20

2010-09-20T13:11:00.000-07:00

Ol' Jessup

Green Man (miniature)

New Work Continued

2010-04-18T21:18:00.001-07:00

The top left picture is my most recent carving. Based on a Pete Le'Clair design. Next to it is an original piece that I posted earlier, newly painted, LT. Finally there is the Colonel, mostly because if he had a body he'd be wearing a white suit and peddling some type of fried something or other.

New Work

2010-04-18T21:09:00.001-07:00

Two new additions to my boot collection. Just trying out different details like the stitching and the cross.
   I would like to take some time to offer some respect to those whom I have learned and am learning from. First would be Dr. Bill Fournier, Em's uncle. I have learned the most from him, he has sat through hours of questions and helped me understand many aspects of carving, from sharpening tools to the different properties of wood. The others I want to recognize are excellent authors who have helped me develop my skills:
Larry Green & Mike Altman First Projects for Woodcarvers: A Pictoral Introduction to Woodcarving
   This books has been an excellent start point and the projects have all been informative and enjoyable.
Mary Finn Carving Egg Heads
   Finn has helped me to develop my face carving abilities and learn some basic principles for carving in the round, specifically with turned eggs. Her work also helped me to understand and better conceptualize many of the aspects crucial to accurate carvings.
Pete Le'Clair, Dave Stetson, and the many excellent articles in WoodCarving Illustrated have also been invaluable assets.

(As an aside I, sadly, do not get any royalties for the shout outs; having said that if any one would like to be so generous I would be most grateful. Just wanted to pay homage to the people and authors that have been influential in helping me to develop my carving skills.)

Finally, I want to say I have a long journey ahead and I am excited for every lesson that will come and every person that I will meet who can join me on this pathway.

2010-02-14T15:08:00.000-08:00

1. Santa 1(dots on hat)
2. Santa 2
3. Gnome: the Gnome was my first attempt at carving an entire figure (until this piece I had only carved heads, hands, boots, etc.)

First Cuts

2009-11-08T18:07:00.000-08:00

Here are some of my first carvings. (1. Santa 2. Pair of Boots and then skipping some for the sake of download time High Five, LT - Dan and a first nativity carving. More to follow, perhaps.

Mainly Maine

2008-08-13T18:15:00.000-07:00

4:40a.m.

Cadillac Mountain