[Lightningbolt]

I haven't posted too much lately so I thought that I'd put up my latest woodspirit that I just finished last night. It's carved into a chunk of sasafrass that I took from the side of one Blue Ridge mountain at about 2,000 foot elevation. It was from a standing dead tree and I managed to get three really nice "chunks" out of it with my bow saw, then hauled them down off the mountain to my truck so I really earned their honor!!

The actual carving is 4" wide X 9" tall. I first sanded the top and bottom ends smooth with the belt and palm sanders until they were "baby-butt" soft, then proceeded to only "lightly" sand the bark with 220 grit paper which gives it the nice look I like.

With this carving I tried to fancy-up my eye painting methods which I learned from a lot of the other faces that folks have been posting here lately. I still don't have any of the DVD's or books that have been mentioned yet so I just studied up on what I visually saw being posted. Amazing what we can learn from each other!

Anyhow, I first sealed the entire carving with BLO mixed to one half turpentine, then painted with acrylics. Back to the eyes... I then mixed up some creamy-white for the base color. I then painted a circle in the eye with a thinish wash of raw sienna swishing my brush in a starburst manner from the center outwards trying to create a better eye look, but I still need some more practice. For the pupil I used full strength burnt umber followe by a little dot of "reflective" white just off to the side. I really like this new and more realistic look so I'll be practicing up on this one!

Anyhow, I ended up sealing the painted carving with spray acrylic sealer, then put on a burnt umber antiquing wash... then for some reason I decided to put on a coat on Sieeken's Cetol 2 finish and then later on I put on a final coat of polyurethane. In the future I'd like to work more on improving my noses.

Hey, thank's for taking a look and hope you enjoyed him!

[tucker1931]

After all your work luggin that wood down the mountain, ya musta been plumb tuckered out Dave, but never the less ya done good. I really like the way yiu did the eyes, they look very realistic, great carving all around.
Cliff

[Ashbys]

Dave ,

I really like it , very friendly spirit !

Ash

[Colin_Partridge]

Dave,
Really nice carving, great expression. Never carved Sasafrass but it looks like a really nice wood. Is is hard or soft or somewhere in between. I wouldnt change your noses they are great and the carving is definatly you. Great job keep on posting love to see your work.
Colin

[Ron Davidson]

Dave I got a good description from Ash on your carving. Sounds like you did a great job as usual.
Ron

[GaryMc]

Very Nice Dave, keep it up!
GaryMc

[Bob's Birds]

Hi Dave,
Great expression you have on that guy and a very nice finish.
Keep up the good work!!!!!!!!!

Bob

[tnartist05]

Nice job,he looks good Dave! Forrest

[markken5889]

Great job Dave! Your finishing-antiquing-sealing job really makes if pop!

-Mark

[sharon cottrell]

HE looks pretty darn good. like the paint job.To me half the fun is finding the wood.Sounds like it was probably a great day for you finding that dead tree.Like finding treasure! I learn alot from others on this site too.Nice job.