[mark yundt]

A woodworker friend is bidding a job in the New England area. Part of the package the Designer sent to him is this wall.

I think this is where I come in.LOL...LOL...

Now this is only in the preliminary stages,,and he just sent this to me to get my mind wrapped around the scope of this job. WRAP MY MIND AROUND IT??? Heck,,,it just EXPLODED on me. He said a carving of this type is the concept needed to cover a featured wall in a Yacht Club,,,as well as a pile of insane woodwork he would be doing. The concierge desk is also ALL carved and that's over the top in itself,,but this I thought was just plain insane.



NOT that I'm COMPLAINING mind you.

I'm just a bit at a loss for words,,,go figure!
The whole thing is sponsored by the family that owns Campbells Soup.Sounds like a decent commission. Time to put a bunch of numbers on the wall and start tossing darts and see what looks good.Hopefully whatever we come up with will fly. This could be tasty!

Say,,,didn't I hear somewhere that we're heading into a recession? Don't these people know that? I'll think about that while I go and change my shorts....

[Irishman]

You might be able to retire with that project Mark...or the work will take you into your retirement years. Wow, such detail and intricate work.
Patrick

[xsailer]

About a third of the way thru I'm thinkin...how many %$#& leaves are there anyway?
I know........another 2/3.

Looks like another good fix you've got yourself into, Olly. I'm anxious to hear more details of how you're doing.

Recession
Rich=less toys.......maybe
Middle Class(what's left of us)=stay home more and hope job holds
Poor=more pancakes, less meat, unemplyment checks.

[Just Carving]

Yup Mark--there is a recession, and everybody's living on...well...SOUP!

I looked at the pic and immediately got a headache! A bit much for me, and that's just to look at it.

Good luck!!

Bob L

[squbrigg]

Wow Mark, it looks like you are going to busy for a while. A long while!!! Just make sure they don't try to pay you in cans of soup!

What I can't understand is why that design ....... for a yacht club you said? I would think a suitably nautical decor would better serve! Oh well, that's just me, rather see sails than leaves.

Enjoy the project.

Bob

[RussL.]

So that carving already exists somewhere and that's not just an artists rendering? Wow.

I can't wait to follow your "Work in Process" diary on that one! :-)

RussL.

[Mottles]

Mark, this sounds like a huge project and one that will take up your time and energy for quite a while. From what I have seen of your work, you can do it! If your friend gets the bid how much time will you have for your part of the package? I'm a little surprised in the design also, being a Yacht Club you'd think they would want all things nauitcal. Certainly, this design not necessarily one expected would be different from the norm. By the way this is a beautiful piece, the design makes my head swim.
Kathy

[mark yundt]

Yes,,when I opened this pic it rocked me back for a second or two. I don't know if I'll get this job,,as I said it's in the preliminary stages,but I'm willing to take a run at it. And this too is simply an example of the type of work they are interested in for this particular wall. Typical of most designers today is they don't reall design something,,they tear pictures out of magazines and reassemble them . So I'm sure I'll have to design something for the designer.
This too isn't what most might expect a Yacht Club to be interested in. And that brings up an interesting point.
One of the books I happen to be reading at the moment is Sherlock Holmes. I have a habit of seeing patterns in everything and they play out very well in these stories. On the way to a crime scene Watson ( everyones voice) asks if Sherlock has any ideas about what might have happened in this particular crime. His response is you should not go with preconcieved ideas as it will cloud what is actually needed to solve the crime,,the scene will tell you what happened,,not your thoughts about what might apply. That limits your ability to read the situation and draw false conclusions.
And the other thing he states is that sometimes the most obvious solution is not usually the best answer.The answer usually lies elsewhere.
So as I see it,,,this really is a pattern for how I too approach jobs. I have no idea what I'm going to do for someone until they give me clue,,I have to question them and probe to get a spark of what it is they are looking for. This habit of not holding on to any preconcieved idea has served me well as I don't end up showing them the obvious solution to their problem as everyone else has done,,I tend to find the unique answer to solve the riddle.
That was how I did the first set of trees arching over the refrigerator/freezer,,The eagle and it's pose ( didn't look anything like the schools mascot which was the obvious choice),,the grotto,,designs for fireplaces,,rangehoods,,even cruxifixs' etc.etc.. Simply not doing what everyone else is offering and trying to do seems to serve me well. That I believe is what can be unique enough to set you apart in a sea of carvers.

[Jim OH]

Hey Mark,
Looks like a wonderful project. Do ya think, if you land this job, you might have time to give us a leaf, by leaf, by leaf, by leaf, step-by-step photographic essay that we could cherish through the years as we watch the project evolve ;O)).
Jim OH

[pallin]

Mark, you're not going to believe this. We recently went to a small Oriental restaurant in our small mountain community. On the walls were several decorations similar to your photo - intricate, amazing, carved in hard woods. Somewhere in the world they turn out things like this in large quantities.
It reminds me of carvings I saw in Europe, incredible deep reliefs and pierced work in oak or walnut. The artists are rarely mentioned.