[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

I opened the door the other day and realized I had a carved welcome sign on it....pretty observant huh? But it is one of the first carvings I had done, about 5 years ago, it was one of the freebie patterns by Susan Irish...thought you would get a laugh from this Susan! I put a pic on carvers gallery, still not sure how to get pictures from "my pictures " to here....this thing keeps asking for an url.....tried Duke of Url, but that didn't work!

[Kenny_S]

Why would Susan or anyone laugh at that sign? Looks great!

[Irish]

The last ten years of my life has been spent teaching beginning wood carving. I teach the most basic steps in our hobby much of which is given away free on my site. I teach with assumption that the majority of my web students probably have never held a bench knife nor can recognize the difference between a gouge and a chisel nor can identify a piece of butternut compared to a piece of black walnut. Many have never before tried their hand at expressing their creativity or artist nature.

The first attempts at wood carving often do not create an artist's masterpiece. Sometimes those early works do seem crude or rouge compared to what a carver will be creating within just a few months or few years of having picked up our craft. But those early works, those very first ones, are the greatest works a carver will ever make in their lifes because they are the start of one person expressing their creativity, expressing their desire to try something they have never before done, and sharing with the world for eternity a new and unique piece of themselves through their art! Those first works are full of the courage of a brand new artist.

I do not and have never placed my work or where I am in my craft against any other person's creation. My art path began 37 years ago and I have spent my entire professional life as a teacher of the arts and crafts trying to encourage and support others in their creativity. As an artist, as a professional wood carver, as an author I have often smiled with delight and grinned with joy upon seeing an new carver's first courageous attempts in carving ... but I have NEVER laughed at anyone!

Hi_Ho, I grin with joy and I praise your courage in your early carving.

L. S. Irish (Susan)

[MelNM]

Nice work Hi Ho, does Susan still have it on her website?

Originally Posted by Irish

The last ten years of my life has been spent teaching beginning wood carving. I teach the most basic steps in our hobby much of which is given away free on my site. I teach with assumption that the majority of my web students probably have never held a bench knife nor can recognize the difference between a gouge and a chisel nor can identify a piece of butternut compared to a piece of black walnut. Many have never before tried their hand at expressing their creativity or artist nature.

The first attempts at wood carving often do not create an artist's masterpiece. Sometimes those early works do seem crude or rouge compared to what a carver will be creating within just a few months or few years of having picked up our craft. But those early works, those very first ones, are the greatest works a carver will ever make in their lifes because they are the start of one person expressing their creativity, expressing their desire to try something they have never before done, and sharing with the world for eternity a new and unique piece of themselves through their art! Those first works are full of the courage of a brand new artist.

I do not and have never placed my work or where I am in my craft against any other person's creation. My art path began 37 years ago and I have spent my entire professional life as a teacher of the arts and crafts trying to encourage and support others in their creativity. As an artist, as a professional wood carver, as an author I have often smiled with delight and grinned with joy upon seeing an new carver's first courageous attempts in carving ... but I have NEVER laughed at anyone!

Hi_Ho, I grin with joy and I praise your courage in your early carving.

L. S. Irish (Susan)

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

I don't know...but it was a looooong time ago!

[Callynne]

Hey Big Brother, that's a very nice sign! What a nice way to welcome visitors....hmmmmm, something else to add to my 'to carve' list! Deborah