Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Pine Block to Work of Art--Part One

My husband likes to carve. He can take an ordinary block of wood and make it into something fiercely beautiful.
In December he sketched out a cougar on a block of pine.



Then he started to chip away all the parts that didn't look like a cougar.


Taking shape.




Coming along.




Progress made.


I hope you are enjoying this photo story.
More tomorrow.

12 comments:

carla said...

Ive said it before but I LONG to have a hobby or skill which is at all crafty.

look forward to the pics and like the insight into your partner.

the Bag Lady said...

Very cool, cousin! Mike does such incredible work, I'm glad you decided to photograph the process!

Looking forward to more.

Leah J. Utas said...

Carla, it's good to know you're looking forward to it. The photo story is in three parts.
Mike is very creative and artistic. He's been carving for decades.

df Bag Lady, it's an incredible journey from block of wood to lifelike critter.

Clare2e said...

As a recovering, and occasionally backsliding, artist myself, I AM enjoying it. I love wood, but I've never carved. I can't wait until the whole process is revealed.

Reb said...

Works in progress are fun to watch. I am glad you photographed them for us.

Leah J. Utas said...

Clare, Mike used a chainsaw to start the process before moving on to finer cutting tools. He spent between 15 and 20 hours on this mask.

Reb, you're welcome. It's hard to backdraft the process from the finished product to the block no matter how many times I've seen.

Missicat said...

Chip away all the parts that don't look like a cougar? Sounds so easy! hehe Definitely looking forward to more!

Leah J. Utas said...

Missicat, glad to know you're enjoying it. Stay tuned.

Anonymous said...

Oh wow, this is so cool! Can't wait to see more.

And I loved "...chip away all the parts that didn't look like a cougar." Strikes me as a good metaphor for writing novels. In the revision process, we chip out everything which doesn't look like our story! :)

Leah J. Utas said...

Thanks, Thomma Lyn. More on the way.
Good point on the writing metaphor, too.

Tom Rooney said...

I'm always in awe of those that are creative artists. They usually are right brain people and have a gift for looking at the world in a better way than most of the rest of us. This is some great stuff Leah.

Leah J. Utas said...

Thanks so much, Tom. I'll pass your words along.