TexasWoodcarving.com

 Quite a bit of work has gone into refining the face of Poseidon. For reference, the below this latest photo is one of how the same part of the carving looked at the time of the last post.  All of the progress posts for the Poseidon carving can be found at www.texaswoodcarving.com/search/label/Poseidon .

  Russell Farm Art Center in Burleson, Texas invited me to present as part of their Red Chair Lecture Series . The team at Russell Farm was very thoughtful with the setup, decorations, and refreshments. I especially liked how the stage was set up. We were blessed with an interested and engaged audience in the old hay barn which is now lit up with festive lighting. The presentation covered a variety of wood carving topics including history, tools, techniques, and the value of art created in wood. The audience asked a number of great questions during the presentation and we continued the conversation over refreshments. After everyone had a chance to get something to eat and drink, we moved to the Charlie Boren art studio. Charlie's carving studio has been preserved and is still used for some events. We spent some time there discussing tools and teaching wood carving. In the same building as the carving studio, there is an exhibit of Charlie Boren's wood carving. Charlie was know

  Jody Webb brought a banjo he made to class. All the parts are custom made down to the hand carved tuning pegs. In addition to making such a beautiful instrument, Jody serenaded us during class.        

 Shaping things up on the Poseidon carving. We are getting close to refinement and details.

  A quick updated on the Poseidon carving. Continuing to rough out the face and surrounding forms.      

  The Dallas Museum of art invited me to present at last Friday night's "Late Nights" event. The event celebrated the start of Hispanic Heritage Month and the life and work of Mexican American artist Octavio Medellín. During the evening, I had the opportunity to demonstrate carving, answer questions, and allow visitors to try their hand at carving. It was such a fun, full time, that I only managed to get photos before and after the event. Here is a photo of the demo setup in the Founder's room just prior to the event. Looks like the DMA managed to take some pictures, such as this photo found on this Facebook post .

  The fun begins. Creating lots of wood chip as we start to go from wood slabs towards carved form. Here the wind areas on either side of the face are getting pushed back. With all this wood being cut away, it would be a shame for it to go to waste. The solution? Mulch. This way the wood can return to the earth and help the garden grow without raising land fills. So, here we are so far. You can start to see the forms taking shape.