i used to carve   22 comments

Posted at 6:17 pm in Uncategorized

Two days and about 1700 km (1,070 miles) and I am back home in Ottawa, Ontario. Looking back over the summer, I realize that a lot more was accomplished than what I set out to do. I’d been hoping to finish painting the exterior and to replaster and paint the largest upstairs room and the staircase. The exterior is almost completed, but I ended up replastering and painting about four-fifths of the upstairs. As well, there are now trails cut through much of the property, and some small clearings made here and there. The flower and vegetable garden was enlarged considerably. A new fridge was bought and wrestled into place in the kitchen. The front yard is now completely fenced to keep the dogs from wandering toward the road. All in all, I must say that I’m quite pleased with the progress, but also very happy to have called it quits for the season. I worked very hard almost every day and am quite ready for a break.

Over the next week or so, I’ll be getting the van ready for its longer journey to Arizona. I’m looking forward to another warm, sunny winter in the southwest. Sabrina and I are both feeling pretty creaky and will do so much better in the arid climate. My plan is to take a couple of art and music courses, catch up on some reading and painting, and reconnect with friends. I’m not quite sure what is in store for next year. I don’t tend to think that far ahead these days. However, more work on the house seems likely, and possibly the beginning of some kind of arts related business. I will be tossing around ideas over the winter.

Many of you know that I like to paint, but less will know that I used to do quite a bit of carving at one time. Most of my work is funky, humorous stuff. I like to make mobiles, kinetic sculptures, animals on wheeled bases, circus type art, marionettes, and also shorebird decoy carvings. My most active period of carving was in the mid-1990s. Lately, I’ve been feeling some desire to get back into carving and perhaps painted and carved repurposed furniture. That might well form the basis of whatever business I get into a year or two down the road.

This morning, I was looking at these two old carvings and decided to drag them outdoors to photograph. I could have done a better job of it, but just wanted to share these pieces and didn’t have the energy to go to much trouble. The first is a circus tiger inspired by a piece in the collection of the Shelburne Museum in Vermont. I have also carved a zebra which is of my own design but very much in the style of the tiger. If I get back into carving, I would like to make a giraffe, a lion and an elephant in the same style.
Note: Click on all photos to view larger versions.

The second carving was inspired by a memory from my youth. When I was about ten years old, I visited a local fair and was captivated by a dancing chicken inside a little booth. You deposited a nickel and the chicken would dance around for a short while. Some kernals of corn would spill onto the floor and the chicken would gobble them up. To this naive kid, it seemed that the chicken danced to earn corn. A few years later, someone told me that the floor of the display case was electrified and when you deposited your nickel, the poor chicken received shocks that made it dance around. Needless to say, I was quite horrified to hear this, and to think that I had been responsible for torturing one of these unfortunate birds. And so I created this carving, entitling it The Truth About the Dancing Chicken. This piece has movable parts – a feature I like to work into of some of my carvings. When you turn a crank on the side of the display case, the chicken will dance. I have put up a little video clip of the chicken in motion.

Just a few more photos. Above is a shot of the gable room – the last room that I worked on – after being replastered, painted, and the rebuilt window reinstalled. You can see the “before” view here.

This is the last photo of the house taken this summer, from the lane just as the dogs and I were departing for the season. In spite of it being a dull, dreary morning, the old place looked so much happier than when we arrived in the spring.

The final photo is of an apple pie which my neighbour, June, baked specifically for me – almost no sugar – just fresh apples and a bit of cinnamon. It was delicious! Isn’t it nice to have such kind and thoughtful neighbours!

Written by bev wigney on October 8th, 2011

22 Responses to 'i used to carve'

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  1. Nice carvings, Bev! I didn’t know you did that. Your neighbor’s pie looks good as well. The dancing chicken carving and story would make a good post on their own. I’ve never heard of such a fairground booth!

    Larry Ayers

    8 Oct 11 at 6:36 pm

  2. are you going to have time to come out to the South Nation before you go south? Name the spot as worthy of investigation and painting!

    fred

    8 Oct 11 at 6:57 pm

  3. Larry – Thanks! I just goodpgled “dancing chickenm electric shock” and found more references. Pretty incredible!

    fred – I was going to get in touch with you to see where you are working. Will email you in a bit?

    bev

    8 Oct 11 at 7:02 pm

  4. Hi Bev,

    Wow, had no idea that you were so talented in carving….Quite the story about the dancing chicken. Poor chickens! If you want an idea for carving, I would love to see a greyhound carving 🙂 Safe travels, I will be checking in on your status… Nice neighbors indeed to make you a pie and I am sure that it was as delicious as you say…

    Kathy

    8 Oct 11 at 7:19 pm

  5. Hi Bev

    Your carvings looked great. I used to carve and I have been planning to start again. I loved the whimsy of the dancing chicken it was a really good folk art style work.

    All the best for your trip.

    Guy

    Guy

    8 Oct 11 at 7:26 pm

  6. what a delightful post Bev- I love your colorful whimsical carvings. Your talent never ceases to amaze me 🙂

    Cindy

    8 Oct 11 at 7:29 pm

  7. Very nice, Bev! Though I’m not much of an artist, those rare occasions when I attempt to make art are so uplifting. To think, if only I had the talent, as well, as you so obviously do! I’m looking forward to reading about your travels…and to discovering that Bisbee is just as remarkable as your posts suggest.

    John

    9 Oct 11 at 5:24 am

  8. I have come to believe that there is NOTHING you can’t do, Bev! So much talent in one body. Thanks for sharing the photos of you carvings. Will be eager to see the others when you complete them. I especially love giraffes and elephants.

    The before and after photo of the room is stunning. (The before and after shots of the entire house are remarkable!) Great job you have done. You deserve a nice, long break with lots of winter fun! My body is going to wish we were there with you in Bisbee when winter rains stir up joint pain! Looking forward to hearing about your road trip and seeing photos.

    Hope you and the dogs have interesting and safe travels.

    Sky

    9 Oct 11 at 9:44 am

  9. Kathy – Thanks! I will have to try to think of a carving with a greyhound! Yes, I’m very lucky to have such wonderful neighbours. (-:

    Guy – Have you photographed anyof your past carvings? It’s a terrific hobby. I’m sure I’ll get back to it someday when life is just a little easier.

    Cindy – Thanks! I like makingthings that are a bit fun to look at.

    John – Creating art is very good for the spirit. I would encourage you to pick up paonts, a pencil, or whatever, and just do it. You might be surprised by what you can create.

    bev

    9 Oct 11 at 9:53 am

  10. Sky – I must admit that sometimes I even surprise myself with some of the things that I make. There is nothing that I enjoy more than creating something that makes me and everyone else laugh! The latest room looked so different by the time I was finished – from unusable to really quite pretty. Doing so muchplastering in one summer taught me quite a bit about that kind of work. I look at the downstairs room hat I started off with last summer and it looks so bad. Definitely illustrates how we learn through trial, error and experience!
    I wish you could get away to the desert this winter. It is such a relief being in the arid climate. I’m sure I would be very creaky if I spent winters in either the Atlantic provinces, or the Pacific Northwest. When I left Nova Scotia, we were getting a lot of days woth over 90 percent relative humidity. When I get down to the desert, it will be more like 12 to 15 percent. Big difference!

    bev

    9 Oct 11 at 10:00 am

  11. I have to agree with what everyone else has commented here: Your talents are astounding!

    I love your carvings. I especially like that tiger. Quite beautiful. I would love to see more and hope you do pursue this in the future.

    It never ceases to amaze me how cruel some humans can be to animals. A true nightmare.

    robin andrea

    9 Oct 11 at 10:09 am

  12. Bev, I absolutely adore the carvings – they’re so vibrant that they almost jump right off the screen. Please tell me that you will be doing more of this. Oh yes, and did the cards arrive all right and without being mangled by Canada Post?

    Love the way the house and that gable room are taking shape, and the light will be grand for painting…

    Cate

    9 Oct 11 at 12:15 pm

  13. robin – Some of my carvings are here in Ottaea and some are now out east. Also, I gave away quite a few when I was packing things up to go into storage when I sold the farm. I will try to photograph some more at a future date, and perhaps there will be more new ones next year!

    Cate – Thanks so much for your comment. The tiger is quite fun to see “in person” as the colours are quite vibrant. Yes! Your cards did arrive and they are just beautiful – and not at all damaged in the mail. I can’t wait to send a couple of them along to friends who I am quite sure will apreciate them as much as me! Take care.

    bev

    9 Oct 11 at 1:16 pm

  14. Wow! That tiger is quite the bobby-dazzler! I was trying to work out the scale from the grass. It looks quite big. He’s most splendid and characterful. I have a tiny carved and painted tiger from India quite like him, and I’d be pretty sure the artist who made the original that you saw in Vermont had seen a similar Indian folk carving. The dancing chicken too is a delight, though the explanation for what made the poor thing hop in the original version fills me with horror… yet again… at man’s inhumanity to beasts.

    You’ve been saying for some time that you feel the need for an expression of creativity in your life… an aspect of which has clearly been at work in the restoration of the house… and I can see why the person who made the tiger and the dancing chicken would have fingers itching for the whittling knife and the paintbrushes. Maybe on this next trip you could keep a notebook in readiness to start some carving work. Sketches, glued-in photographs, ideas that are brewing etc. It would make a good springboard to work. I keep notebooks myself as I find that they are good places for thinking. The best ideas cook in them and the lesser ones get discarded before too much energy has been wasted. You might try it out!

    Wonderful carvings Bev. I’m impressed.

  15. Clive – Thanks! The tiger figure is roughly 12 inches tall by 12 inches long without the base. Hiw neat about the resemblance to your tiger from India. The Vermont tiger always struck me as an unusual piece – quite exotic and fanciful in appearance. If it was fashioned after a figurine from India, that wouod certainly explain a lot. The zebra which I have made is in a style similar to the tiger, but of my own design. I made it baring its teeth a little and cockin one hind foot as though it might kick. It is packed away at the Round Hill house, but whenever I uncover it, I will be sure to post photos. I do hope to set up a studio for painting and skme kind of outdoor area for carving, I have a karge utility trailer where I store some things in winter, but which sits empty in summer. It has ceiling lights and a place to run an electric cable inside, so it would make an ideal instant workshop for my woodworking tools. Anyhow, as I get more of the old house clean and inhabitable, I feel that the creative side will be abke to shift away from just the house, and over to carvings and paintgs. You are quuite right – I am anxious to begin carving and painting again after such a long hiatus.

    Good idea about keeping a notebook this winter. I’ve been thinking that, while I may not be in a position to carve, I can still work on drawings and making cutting oatterns, so that is what I shall do!

    bev wigney

    12 Oct 11 at 7:43 am

  16. The tiger does have a kind of India look. It also reminded me of some Mexican Indian work I have seen, including some papier-mâché figures. It also reminds me of some Chinese figures. Wow! Now I’m getting hungry. I think I’ll have some left-over enchiladas for lunch.

    mark

    12 Oct 11 at 8:15 am

  17. I love this sculpture. It reminds me of Chinese lion sculptures because the faces always look to me more like dragons than lions…(sometimes gargoyles). But your colorful interpretation of this animal is fantastic. I can visualize the child emperor of china pulling his little wheel-mounted tiger behind him.

    What kind of wood do you use?

    Joan

    13 Oct 11 at 11:52 pm

  18. mark – All this talk is making me hungry too!

    Joan – Very true about the resemblance to Chinese lions with their dragon-like heads. I usually use Eastern White Pine which has an even grain, few knots, an is soft enough to carve fairly easily, but strong enough to allow for a lot of design possibilities.

    bev wigney

    14 Oct 11 at 2:45 am

  19. “The Truth About the Dancing Chicken,” carved from your memory as a 10-year-old girl fascinates me and resonates with me. Thanks for the video clip with it! I just bought a book of writing and illustrations that you might like. It is called DRAWING FROM MEMORY, by Allen Say, a writer of children’s books. Maybe you are already familiar with his books. He is a favorite of mine. There is something very powerful that happens in creating drawings and carvings from memory. Many of my best paintings came from dreams and memories.

    http://www.villagebooks.com/book/9780545176866

    After I met Richard at the ocean when we were 17 years old, I sculpted an image of him in clay, from my memory, never knowing if I would see him again. I left that little sculpture at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial “Moving Wall” that visited near Bellingham in August 2000. I can still see it in my mind and could probably carve or sculpt it from memory.

    I hope you are inspired to do more carving, bev. Now that I think of it, the art work that you had in that exhibit in Bisbee earlier this year was three-dimensional and in the spirit of your older carvings. Once your Round Hill house renovation is complete, I am guessing plenty of energy could be directed into carving next season at Round Hill. Or maybe this winter in Bisbee will be a good time for trying some carving again. Anyway, I’m grateful that you posted the images of the circus tiger and the scene from your memory.

    Now I’m wondering if you and Sabrina and Sage are out on the road again, heading for Bisbee. Hard to believe that it is mid October already.

    am

    17 Oct 11 at 9:20 am

  20. Hope you are doing fine on the road to Bisbee. I keep humming Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again” all week. Wonder what that means. 🙂

    I was looking at some photos of the yard at Round Hill. There is a colorfully painted sculpture out there which looks like folk art..and I could not get a closer look at it. Is that one of yours? It’s an animal. If I knew how to cut and past to upload to a blog I would do that..but in over 10 years of bungling around on the net, I have never been given the keys to that. I think that’s probably a good idea, though. (grin)

    Ok.. When next you blog, you will be basking in the warmth of desert breezes and we will be experiencing 40 degree weather here in erratic ol’ Missouri. Have a great trip!

    Joan

    17 Oct 11 at 9:30 pm

  21. “I Used To Carve”

    Bev, dear Bev.

    You never stopped.

    Out of the earth, out of experience, from air, seed, planks, plaster, hammer and nails . .

    You carve.

    You take the world at hand: plant, animal, fabric, paint and wood and you sculpt and sweat and ache and cry and make sense of it all.

    Beautiful sense . . . of it all.

    Well done, my friend.

    Cathy

    30 Oct 11 at 3:27 pm

  22. Every time I visit your blog I am amazed at what you have accomplished ! You have really given that old house life again!

    Wendy

    30 Oct 11 at 10:31 pm

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