[Nancy_G]

Tony .....
Great work. (I wonder why we call carving "work") Really fine carving.

[Iowa Carver]

Great looking pieces!

Corey

[slivers&dust]

Thanks everyone for all the nice words,

I get a lot of ews-n-awes here in my world when people see a carving but it's you all, who know carving...good, bad or just in between, that I am awed at, and it's all of you and your talents that really inspire me to pick up the tools and just carve...to find something better then the last in each piece of wood I pick up.

Patrick, your kind of right about the painting. These are the first painted carvings since I joined the forum, in fact since 96 the last decoy I did. Most of the painting I know and have done is more opaque and over geso...unless you were a carver you couldn't tell it was wood (imo)

(side note)
JoSanja paint will dry up or thicken in the tube after...11yrs...all 35 tubes

I really love the look of a carving that doesn't need paint, just the beauty of the wood and the shadows created by the cuts...and or the transparent look of thin washes of paint for a subtle hint of color allowing the wood to show through. One of my goals with using Marks DVD was/is to learn how to finish in that method so eventually, real soon I hope, I will put a finish on the two carvings I did last winter. (remeber the NA mask & Mt man) I've been too nervious about trying it on them so these ornaments have been great to learn on.

[susieq]

Hi Tony,
Excellent carving.....I agree with some of the others that the second ornament is the best. I loved it so much that I have printed it for reference. Beautiful eyes. Just a great piece.

[wood-whittler]

tony


great work i like the eyes on the second one, good paint work also.


bart

[Mottles]

Hey Tony, your santa's are really nice the second one is very realistic looking. Beautiful eyes! I like the first one too, especially the squinty eyes. Nice painting work too.
Kathy

[Lightningbolt]

Those are just great. What more can I say!

[Fred Zavadil]

Tony, excellent carvings - both of them, the second one is my favourite too. You did a fantastic painting job, I said it before, I do not like paint on wood but some carvings just would not have the desired effect without it and this is one of them.
Fred

[Steve Grimaud]

I've been trying my hand at the Gargac ornaments based on the very useful article in WCI recently. Mine don't have the same smooth look as those in the article, but I like the concept he's used for face layout and piercing. Here're two - one just finished and not yet painted, the other painted. As you can see, I use stronger colors for whites and reds than Mr. Gargac.
(not sure about how the pics will display).

[tboylan]

can't view the photos? anybody else see these photos?