Carved With Love

I have often talked about my Papa on my blog and how much influence he has had on my life.

One big influence was how much he loved to create things and use his hands.

He was always doing something, painting, reworking things, making things for my brother and I whether it be a scooter, a t-ball tee, a picture made with felt, a canopy for my bed or simply just fiddling away in his workroom on his workbench filled with anything and everything you can possible imagine.

(I like to think he was the MacGyver of his time, which he also LOVED to watch)

It wasn't until later in his life, not exactly sure when, but he started to carve birds and ducks.

He LOVED birds and ducks and he could name almost all of them and if he didn't know, he had books and books that would tell him.

It was something that he started before my grandma passed and something that kept him going after.

He taught us to appreciate wildlife and the outdoors, a bug that has really bitten my brother most of all.

Anyway, I wanted to show you some of his carvings that either my mom, my brother or I have in our homes.  After he passed some of them were given to loved ones and some to a Senior Citizen Center where he would go from time to time and these were the ones that we kept.

As you scroll through, keep in mind that he carved all of these from blocks of wood using hand tools, not power tools.    He would then use a burning tool to create detail in feathers and some he painted, some stained.

He would work hours and hours on these and enjoy every second.

There are a quite a few photos, so relax and enjoy. :)

"Red Tail Hawk"

He created the bases for them by replicating natural surroundings using real and artificial materials.

(He did not carve the bases)

You can see the details in the feathers from the wood burning tool.

This is a chickadee or wren, can't remember.

He is a bit beat up through the years and you will notice an unfortunate theme with them,

cat bite marks and chewed up areas.

 

Not sure what it is with cats and wood.

"Hummingbird"

He did carve the flower are well.

"Sand Piper"

He carved the feet for the Sand Piper and glued the pieces together.


"Pin-Tailed Duck"

You can really see the detail on him.

"Loon"

He had to stop carving a few years before he passed due to some medical issues but I will never forget him working on these beautiful birds and how happy he was and proud of them he was, as he should be, if I may say so. :)

I am pretty positive I could never do this but I am happy to know that part of his creative ability lives in my heart and soul and the desire to work with my hands will never fade because of him.

Thank you so much for letting me share these with you.

Hugs!

Two Steps Back

Yeah it is Friday!!!

This week has been good except for yesterday when I had a minor meltdown.

I have been learning so much from Will Kemp and his website and all his tips and I was ready to try another painting using some of the things that I have learned so far.

This is the photo that the lesson is based off of,

very pretty. 

So it first started when I tried to print it off and my printer wouldn't work.  No big deal I will just copy it off the computer.  My laptop is dying a slow death so this Christmas we got a new computer.  Yeah, fun, exciting but it is an all-in-one and not able to be carried around.  

SO,

I use my crappy laptop and take it upstairs to my area and proceed to follow Will's videos.  However, crappy laptop = doesn't play videos very well and keeps freezing up.  

After about 1/2 hour messing with that and a few choice words, it finally worked.

All is wonderful now I am painting, I am trying new things such as this,

setting a ground color.

I am used to painting on a stark white board and Will introduced me to this, which is great and makes total sense.

I can roll with this even though everything in my brain is telling me

 WHOA! Bright color that is NOT even in the photo!!!

I proceed with sketching the lines in and even started to add darker and lighter areas first and building on the painting.

 Again something that I kind of did, but not correctly, so this was all great!

Right? 

Wrong!

I started mixing colors and this is what did me in for the day.

Before I found this amazing site, I went out and purchased paint and some supplies, which was fine, but I didn't realize the importance of quality paint, believe me, it makes a difference.  My paints were thin, they wouldn't mix and the feel of them on the canvas was not smooth and flowy.  I felt like each time I mixed the paint, the paint actually disappeared!

I got here and ran out of one color that I mixed and there was no way in my state of mind that I could match that color again so I pouted, cried a bit and stopped.

A bit dramatic? 

Um, Yes 

Does it really make a difference in the grand scheme of things?

Nope, not really. 

Does it help me become a better painter? 

Yes it does.  

I have to remind myself that I am learning and part of learning is doing things wrong, in fact that is how I learn the best, I just need to keep reminding myself of thhat.  My new motto should be: 

"Keep Calm 

and 

Make Mistakes".

Anyway, I grabbed my little coupon to Michaels and went and picked up a few professional quality paints (in the colors that Will suggested I start with) that will help me a bit more and I can mix those with the basic paint to help.

I will try again this weekend.

*I am not being paid or given anything for mentioning Will's site, I really just love it that much and have learned so much from him already that if you are wanting to pick up that brush again, which I know some of you are, that you will wander over there and have a look-see. :)

I will leave you with a couple images of my drives to the lake this week and I hope you have a wonderful weekend and make some mistakes. (nothing too serious though)  :)

A New Way to Follow

I was just visiting Heather and Vanessa over at The Picket Fence and they have introduced a new way to follow your blogs since I am told that Google Friend Connect will be no more as of March 1st.

It is called Linky Followers.

I have it set up on my sidebar.

I will let them explain it all because they do it so well, so click HERE to find out how you can add this and join up for FREE!!!

It's So Very Cheri has some more great  info about it as well.

You can also still follow along through email of RSS feed if that is preferred.



**Update: GFC will be discontinued for non-Blogger blogs, like Wordpress. (Thank you Tricia)
There is so much going on right now but if you read Heather and Vanessa's post and comments there are some helpful tips in them as well.
Take a look around and see what would work best for you but at least there is another option if GFC does leave Blogger as well some day.
I hope I don't confuse anyone, just take your time and look around and see what you think.