Wood Sculpture

I have worked with wood all of my life. I can remember helping my father with his construction projects and eventually being hired by him to help create wooden products that became parts of remodeled pianos (legs, lyres, benches, etc.). When I was still in grade school I made my own croquet set on our lathe, as well as simple wooden bowls. I love the natural colors and grains that are inherent in wood varieties.

When I sought employment after I moved away from home, I naturally gravitated to carpentry as a profession, and I worked as an itinerant carpenter for many years, mostly remodeling houses. This has always been a fall-back profession for me over the years, supplementing my work as a photographer, cinematographer, animator, webmaster and writer.

I always felt that if I wanted to, I could become a sculptor as well, but this impulse was always subjugated to other activities. Finally, about a year and a half ago, I decided the time was ripe for me to try my hand at sculpting with wood, and I have very much been enjoying this.

At first I worked with the natural twisted wood patterns, assembling things to fashion somewhat whimsical forms. Here is the first piece I did:El Cantor is his name, which means The Singer in Spanish. He is based on the notion of Ents, which are the tree people that are described in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. He stands nearly 7 feet high and is stabilized in that position with his cane planted in the surrounding soil.

Soon after I completed El Cantor, our beloved rottweiler, Lola, died. My wife asked me if I might fashion a big black dog for her upcoming birthday. I accepted her challenge and came up with Lala:Here I am with Lala and our other dog Nicky; she has become a real part of our family and always reminds us of our dear departed friend. Not long after this, My wife’s sister asked if I would make a likeness of her departed Boston terrier, Star. So then Star was born:In another post, I’ll introduce you some of the other wooden creations I have fashioned. As far as I am concerned, making wooden sculpture of this sort is definitely part of the art of natural building, and therefore belongs within the theme of this blog.