I finished a few projects. A rooted man and a great expression in basswood. Our Carving group did the Christmas trees. They turned out great. We had an online auction to help the refugees escaping the war in Ukraine. We raised $450. I have a unique Greenman I am working on right now. This year I have committed to carving expressions in wood and work on some portraits and full busts.
I hope you are creating and enjoying some great time with your passion and art. Nate
After a several weeks of busyness and a health scare, I have not been able to get out and carve much, but last week I felt great and the desire to carve returned and so I got out to the shop. Here’s a greenman and a Santa I finished. Looking forward to really putting in more time during this fall and winter accelerating my learning and carving time.
Saturday, July 10, at 3 pm. I will be the guest on the IAW hosted by Blake Lundsford. They have recorded this show and all of the guests that have been featured. Here is their Youtube channel to subscribe Click here International Association of Woodcarvers. I will be sharing some of my woodcarving journey and doing a demonstration on a Greenman. The information is below.
The show is on Zoom below is the room code and password is “carving”. You will be admitted at 3pm EST. I am honored to be asked and excited for the opportunity
See you Saturday!
Some of my carvings are on display and for sale at the new Art Gallery “Arts on the Market” in Downtown Toledo. This is a new Gallery with a lot of crazy great artists. I appreciate the owners, care, vision, and work. Scott is great to work with. Here is their FB page . https://www.facebook.com/Artonmarket/
A popular woodcarving genre in faces is the carving of Green men. Green men were in many cathedrals in Europe before the 15th century. Historians are not sure why churches had them carved or sculpted there. Maybe a sign of new life in Christ? No one is completely sure. This one has 31 leaves. They are fun to carve as you can be very creative and the layout reveals itself to me as I go. I will enter this in an art show for competition in November if they still have it. Then it will be for sale.
I finished this guy I call “Deep Sleep”. I tried to pay more attention to the detail in the neck for more realism. I used a pic to help.
I did end up winning the blue ribbon and white (1st and 3rd) at the Bedford Arts show in the sculpting/ceramic/glass catagory. I was pleasanlty surprised that the “Four Face” won the Blue. The Chief took 3rd. I think the amazing grain in the wood that popped when I applied the finished sort of washed out the detail.
I had a lot of Christmas carving plans and it’s black Friday already. I will enjoy doing my best. It’s all fun and I don’t put pressure on myself that would steal the joy of carving.
Make time to create. TV is all the same, screens get old, and creating in whatever medium you enjoy, art, music, drawing, painting, carving, ceramics, scuplting, pyrography, is better for you heart, mood, and emotions than you know. I have found, that once I get out to the shop and get started, I never regret it. Getting started is the challenge. Keep creating friends.
I’m not quite done with this guy. I have been avoiding him because I have not detailed ears much. A carver messaged me on instagram encouraging me to do ears. I did them and now I know I can do full busts with ears. They are tricky and I have more practice to go to perfect them. Butternut is a trick wood, as the grain chips. I love the look. I’ll be finishing this and will post the final pics.
The carving on the left was one of my better faces especially the nose and below the mouth. He is a pretty stern looking dude.
My next project I tried to carve from picture of this actor. I have had the pic awhile and always looked at it. I finally decided to give it a try. My son says I should do it like 5 times and see the improvement and the observations I would gain. I may. I see many things I missed as I study it. But it was still an enjoyable project nonetheless. I am getting low on bark so need to put an order in for the winter carving. I may have more time as no yard work and I won’t be able to walk or ride mountain bike. Carving on .
I am not sure if I will put this on my Etsy store. Here is a link to that. Click here
Nate Elarton Wood Sculpting 