Relief in heart and sap wood

[Mike L Hasler]

Painting with wood? The only paint on this piece are the white acrylic on the feathers and crab, the crab was pyro'd.

I've never tried this before, what do you think? Worth trying again?

12" X 9"

first cut walnut

Before and after photos attached.

[Mike L Hasler]

Wow, my timing on posting sucks, This only stayed under new post for 45 minutes!

[Claude]

Nice carving, Mike!

It stays under New s for anyone for 45 minutes, but even though it goes away for you, it still is listed under New s for the rest of us until we have been logged on for 45 minutes or so. The New s applies to how long it's been since you logged in. If you go away for a week and then come back, the New s button will show you all posts since you last logged in, so they are new to you even though the rest of us would have seen them last week.

Claude

[toycarver]

Yes, I like it.

[Mike L Hasler]

Thanks Claude Explains alot, thanks Toy Maker

[MTnative]

Mike,
I love this piece. Your use of the grain in the wood is excellent. And the limited use of paint only accents the bird and crab more. Very well done. I think if you check out intarsia artists you'll find some more inspiration.
Looking forward to seeing more. Jane

[Irish]

Very nice, I especially love the way you have treated the sun by inverting it.

Susan

[Mike L Hasler]

Thanks Jane and Susan, I added a before photo, do you see what I saw in the wood? Remember I usually usethe knots as eyes and let the grain of the wood tell the story. Again thanks for taking the time to comment

Mike

[Robson Valley]

That's inspired. I don't see things in every piece of wood, I don't see what you saw.
If there's any "magic" in the carving process, it's individuality.

[Mike L Hasler]

In all honesty I didn't see this in the blank piece of wood. I posted the before pic on deviantart.com and asked other artists what they saw. I recieved back the one I saw as most obvious, a Meerkat. And a few others as follows

baby BEER, to Andy Warhal for me.
cardinal
bird in super sonic flight
A Pieta, a Michelangelo work of art which would have been a REAL challenge

AND

Sandplover on the beach
after doing a quick sketch it looked more like a sandpiper, got a referance photo, made the larger bird, Still had another knot, the bird with the back light and two more tiny knots which became the sand crab. Just a joy to try getting all of it to work together.