Driftwood carving

[Doug Ridley]

I'm sitting around here with nothing much to do on a rainy day and couldn't get in the mood to carve so I thought I'd post a pic. This is a huge piece of black walnut I drug out of Ky. Lake . This is what I call "Enhancement carving" which means I do as little carving as possible and use mostly what nature provides. In other words I just enhance what's already there. However, in this case I did a lot of work to add the birds. The whole thing is based on an old childhood poem which I had inscribed in a brass plate and it goes like this--

There was an old man with a beard,
Who said it is just as I feared.
Two owls and a hen,
Four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built there nests in my beard.

by Edward Lear,
Father of the limerick

[Thor]

Love It!
Great work for a terrific poem.
Thor

Looks like a real nice "keeper" to me.

[AlArchie]

What a great transition from poem to driftwood! Nicely done.

Al

[Josef]

Nice work. Love the poem and the transition. I also have dabbled in driftwood with almost the same credo as yourself, ie: minimal work to allow as much of the natural shape to shine through. I posted some shots of my work in the carving in found wood catagory if you are interested.

[Bill V]

Doug,
What a great piece of work? I love the poem and the drif wood,a real keeper.

Bill

[Dan Wegiel]

Great piece Doug! "Enhancement carving" is a fantastic way of putting it, thanks for sharing.

Dan

[breezly]

great piece looks so good

[Claude]

Nice work, Doug!

Claude

[Doug Ridley]

Would you believe I donated that carving to a silent auction here in town and never heard from it again. I tried to find out how much it brought and who bought it but evidently they didn't keep any records. Last donation they will get from me. This is one of my pet peeves anyhow, as I have many times donated something or given a carving to someone and never a thank you, go to Hades or anything.