Doing Some Bushcrafting Mixed with a Little Bit of Fine Art

I've been interested lately in wood sculpture of a different sort. On my many hikes I come across dead trees, lots of them. Why not harvest some of the wood for art? I admire "bushcrafters" for their amazing skill and use of natural materials. They are able to create objects such as spoons, bowls, kuskas (cups), and many other interesting items from wood and other materials. They use these in the field and camp. 

I made many of the pictured objects starting with my medium sized hatchet and then used a small Gransfors Bruks carving hatchet to bring the sculpture down to a workable shape, a shape that somewhat resembles a spoon, cup or whatever. The rest is completed using carving knives and gouges. I prefer to leave the "chiseled" look rather than sanding, although a few are sanded. I finish off the pieces with raw linseed and beeswax. That enhances and darkens the grain but does not really create a high polish. I'm still into the whole bushcraft art thing and will continue to make more interesting objects from claimed wood that I find. I think as I progress in the project the work will turn more into "fine art" sculpture. It seems to be a nice combination at the moment. Enjoy the pics. Most of the wood is mesquite and cedar. Other wood used is olive and cherry. 

Working in Wood

One of my favorite art forms is wood sculpture. It is a very slow time consuming activity but I find it to be meditative and relaxing. Many of my wood projects tend to be religious in nature. There is something about the reality of the wood, the naturalness that lends the medium to religious imagery; at least for me. There is a rich tradition of wood being used to express the crucifixion of Jesus and other Biblical scenes. I feel comfortable working along side with that tradition even in a time when many artists have left it or no longer have a connection with faith. Faith, the Christian faith is integral to the story of humanity and will continue to be so.
  The above piece is one that I had planned out some time ago and I am only now digging into it. It will be an abstract cross design with many layers and finally an antique stain.

Carving of Woman's Head

I've been working on this carving for a little over a month. It has been a slow and cautious approach towards completion. That is one of the aspects of carving that I like, it is very methodical and in a sense therapeutic. I go to my garage and think about my next move, my next "attack" on the sculpture. Anyways I owe some of my progress on this to the sculptor Ian Norbury whose book I purchased on carving the female form and face. He is a very talented wood sculptor whom I learned much from by using the book. I also used my beautiful wife as a model. I took several pictures of her face to use as reference. I then sculpted a clay model which I further used as a reference. In the end the sculpture came out alright but there are plenty of mistakes that stand out. Looking back I would have done the hair differently, not in a bun. The ears especially bother me as I made them too small and too forward. But I am learning. Mistakes sharpen the artist for the next challenge, the only necessity is that you always keep your eyes out for those mistakes and not dismiss them. 

My next step is to mount the bust on a darker species of wood. I'm thinking coco bolo or dark walnut to contrast the light wood. I will then finish it off with a good oil of some sort.