[Lightningbolt]

I really like this second one too! I never thought about adding the trunk of the tree and roots like that. What a great arrangement! A very intriguing effect it has upon the visual processing side of my brain!

I know that it was probably just an effect caused by the angle shot by your camera, but it almost appears that the top-left leaf is "floating" off the block upon which it is carved. If it is then that's another great idea. If it isn't then, what a great photography artist you are!

[wood-whittler]

thor,

i like the second one also,the shadows really do make the tree stand out. thanks for sharing.

bart

[Thor]

On the second one, which is really an older one, I undercut the leaves a lot due to inspiration from Susan Irish's work.
Now, if I combine the two styles, I may be onto something!
Thanks again for the encouragement. I'm trying to work on a greenman now that will indeed use all lessons learned.
Thor

[deweyrf91]

Great work Thor! You know what I've found with carving, is just deciding on the depth of relief I am after. Deeper reliefs are fun and can be very realistic. Make a model from real leaves or whatever and work from that. I've found the more I look and study something the more I see. If you want it bad enough you'll get the results you are after!!

[Callynne]

Thor, what an excellent job you did on it, I really love the hammered background. You should be very pleased with your progess! Thanks for sharing it with us! Deborah

[Dylan]

Thor, great work. The background is wonder. How deep is the background on this piece as compared to the other one? I like the veins in the leaves. Good job, can't wait for the greenman.

Dylan

[Thor]

Dewey,
Thanks, the idea of making of model of real leaves had not occured to me. I am drawing a lot more than I was to work out designs prior to carving. Also, I'm trying to work with the tools that I have rather than make them fit into places that they just don't work in. The design changes once I'm in the wood to fit the curve of a gouge for instance.


HI Dylan,
The background of the oaktree with the tooled background is about 1/2" from the surface.
The other one only went about 3/8". It's not much difference, but one of the things that I learned is to use much bigger gouges to remove more wood at a swipe, and not to be afraid to mess up the background as it will be the last thing I put the finishing touches to. I literally pushed the gouge right off of the end of the leaves into the background to give the appearance of depth to the leaves.
That made the background go deeper. I tooled it to give a contrast, but also because the tight places that deep made it difficult to really clean out the background in some spots. Kind of a cheap fix that works.
Thanks again.

Thor