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Description
Here is a playful carving made from a section of pine board measuring 24" wide x 12" high x 2.5" front to back.
It is vacation time again, back to Holden Beach NC for a week of fun, sun, living large. It is a well needed rest, I'm still working on the new dream house seven days a week.. four years now the project has gone on. My web store is closed, and I am only doing the smallest amount of work to keep lines open for the future... I really wanted to spend a few days carving and here is the result of three and a half of them.
Dolphins cruise the coast pretty much daily though I did not see one this trip, but I have carved them before so when on auto pilot it is good to be covering familiar territory, I've carved mermaids before too, and I've carved a girl or two. Throw it in a blender.. mix it up and spill it onto a board and here is what you get. Is it wrong to keep working on familiar loved themes? Of course not! It is all for fun and to those who seek profoundness in every knife cut I say check your blood pressure and take a chill pill. >always works for me<
Anyways, to give the carving some depth, the form of the waves starts fullest in the lower left corner and recedes to nothing at the top right.. the Dolphin is fullest at the top right and recedes into the waves toward the left. To give the board some illusion of 'real life three d' form the horizon line was cut in fully, areas were cut deeply and away to let light in, for example the dolphins tail, the mermaids head are fully relieved.. Other creatures were added for some complexity, a fish jumping out of the way, a couple other dolphins to give it perspective. While at a glance it is representational there is a good bit of abstraction going on here, the complexity helps keep one from dwelling on all the little.. let's call them "inconsistancies'.
The picture may be too bright to see another little trick going on.. the board being pine, was blue stained throughout the sapwood. By arranging the heart side front and cutting the lead dolphin into the whiter heart wood, then cutting away the background right into the fungus colored sapwood, a greater contrast emerged which in some light, is really a key element. Leaving the front plane perfectly flat, and representing a water line cut makes the statement that this is a 'section' cut and this makes the water seem more fluid where the loose chisel marks run as they will..
Now standing back and scanning the work a dozen things come to mind.. some marks in the water could be routed more gracefully, the little fish fleeing is missing a key lower fin.. the mermaids tail is a little too 'square to name a few... but all in all, it is a playful thing and I cleaned up the little chips and deepened the lines.. partially sanded the rounder forms and called it a day. Next up.. an interpretation of Capt'n Ahab! Ahhh... the sun the wind and the waves..

Description
Here is a playful carving made from a section of pine board measuring 24" wide x 12" high x 2.5" front to back.
It is vacation time again, back to Holden Beach NC for a week of fun, sun, living large. It is a well needed rest, I'm still working on the new dream house seven days a week.. four years now the project has gone on. My web store is closed, and I am only doing the smallest amount of work to keep lines open for the future... I really wanted to spend a few days carving and here is the result of three and a half of them.
Dolphins cruise the coast pretty much daily though I did not see one this trip, but I have carved them before so when on auto pilot it is good to be covering familiar territory, I've carved mermaids before too, and I've carved a girl or two. Throw it in a blender.. mix it up and spill it onto a board and here is what you get. Is it wrong to keep working on familiar loved themes? Of course not! It is all for fun and to those who seek profoundness in every knife cut I say check your blood pressure and take a chill pill. >always works for me<
Anyways, to give the carving some depth, the form of the waves starts fullest in the lower left corner and recedes to nothing at the top right.. the Dolphin is fullest at the top right and recedes into the waves toward the left. To give the board some illusion of 'real life three d' form the horizon line was cut in fully, areas were cut deeply and away to let light in, for example the dolphins tail, the mermaids head are fully relieved.. Other creatures were added for some complexity, a fish jumping out of the way, a couple other dolphins to give it perspective. While at a glance it is representational there is a good bit of abstraction going on here, the complexity helps keep one from dwelling on all the little.. let's call them "inconsistancies'.
The picture may be too bright to see another little trick going on.. the board being pine, was blue stained throughout the sapwood. By arranging the heart side front and cutting the lead dolphin into the whiter heart wood, then cutting away the background right into the fungus colored sapwood, a greater contrast emerged which in some light, is really a key element. Leaving the front plane perfectly flat, and representing a water line cut makes the statement that this is a 'section' cut and this makes the water seem more fluid where the loose chisel marks run as they will..
Now standing back and scanning the work a dozen things come to mind.. some marks in the water could be routed more gracefully, the little fish fleeing is missing a key lower fin.. the mermaids tail is a little too 'square to name a few... but all in all, it is a playful thing and I cleaned up the little chips and deepened the lines.. partially sanded the rounder forms and called it a day. Next up.. an interpretation of Capt'n Ahab! Ahhh... the sun the wind and the waves..