Green Man Carvings..

[nadcarves]

Chris Pye took down his gallery of Green Men...Normally a Green Man is one figure in the leaves etc.. I am doing a female face in Walnut, and was thinking of adding a small owl to the mix..An art purist at one of the local colleges says that the addition would not be at all traditional....just do the face, which he recognized as "close" to a movie star's face.. Being polite, I kept my yap shut.. Has anyone seen a Green Man carving with additional figures in it? Mice, birds, animals etc????? I think I will leave room, add the owl, and if it don't fit, chisel it outMany thanks, cordially Nad

[scooter]

So what if it's not one person's idea of traditional? Carve what you want.

S~

[Bob K.]

I agree! Carve what you want...there is no right or wrong to wood carving and don't let one person's opinion influence what you do!

[nadcarves]

I always carve what I want...This person is the "authority", and I use the tools in their wood shop...It is a great thing for the kids he does not teach anymore..But, when you go hat in hand, it is usually a good idea not to offend the thin skinned people. You aren't going to believe this one... Remember when the thing was to do about 500 figures of something, place them in a square(or something) and call it art..I used to carve a fish that was a cross between a Schmoo ? and a guppy for kids..He saw one, the great idea ,was to carve a school of them mounted on a wall in the old art building. 40 feet of wall. I figured the expenses at around $2000 /3000 dollars to do the project, and that ended that....I have a bunch of commercial carvings to hammer out, so, I'll probably post pictures in December....

[sashadoc]

When I attended my first class in Commercial Art the instructor asked each of us to talk about our favorite artist. I chose Norman Rockwell. She started laughing at me in front of the class. She stated that Mr. Rockwell was not an artist but an illustrator. I dropped the class!!! You do your green man/woman any way you want. After all [U]you[U] are the artist.

Tim

[Northwest29]

Unless you are carving to duplicate a specific piece, or to a 'specification' provided to you, you should carve it the way you want it. As the PBS artist Bob Ross used to say, it's your world, make it the way you want it to be. IMHO

Ron

[johncarves]

We would still be stuck in the dark ages if we were restricted to tradition!

I like tradition, I think is is important for our growth and learning curve. But I also like breaking loose and doing it just a little bit differently. Sometimes to the point of being sacrilegious.

[Caril Chasens]

just do it...

[chpster90bu]

My sentiments exactly. Do whatever you want. It's your carving. My inspiration would go right out the window if I had to carve what someone else thought it should be. Bonnie

[Bill102M]

I think it's called artistic license. Innovation, Talent, Inspiration. We should all strive to incorporate our own idea's into each piece.