-Often, I am asked how I started carving. I started carving soon after my father gave me a family heirloom - a small, gold-plated penknife - when I was nine years old, living in Parishville, NY.
Seeing me whittling away on a stick with this knife one day, my friend, Mike, introduced me to an older man in town who whittled little birds. After meeting him, I could often be found sitting quietly - by the hour - next to Walter Foster, watching him make his rustic little birds. It was many days before Mr. Foster asked if I wanted to let me try my hand at carving a wing on one of his birds. Boy! was I ready!
My first solo bird carving was a Goldfinch. It incorporated a few changes from the birds I had watched Mr. Foster carve, and I was concerned that he might take offense at my innovations. When I showed it to him for his critique, I was in suspense for several anxious minutes, while he looked the bird over carefully, finally declaring - to my great relief and pleasure - that I had done a good job on it. Before long, Mr. Foster was having me paint the finer details - “pinstripes”, as he called them - on his little birds. Meeting other woodcarvers like Hazel Tyrell from Canton, and Avis Brown from Malone, made lasting impressions on me as a young carver.
Of the more than three-thousand birds and animals I’ve carved since then, the majority of them have been Pocketknife carvings made with the very same Buck 307 jackknife I traded a 4X Bushnell rifle scope for over 35 years ago at an Aubuchon Hardware Store that used to exist on Main Street in AuSable Forks, NY. The remainder were “power-tool carvings”, shaped by using electric, flexible shaft tools with a wide variety of grinding and sanding bits along with a wood burner, or - in a few cases - chainsaws and angle grinders.
Every time I try so painstakingly to replicate a bird or animal, my appreciation for excellent artists - especially for the One who originally designed and created these incredibly beautiful creatures - increases.
Seeing me whittling away on a stick with this knife one day, my friend, Mike, introduced me to an older man in town who whittled little birds. After meeting him, I could often be found sitting quietly - by the hour - next to Walter Foster, watching him make his rustic little birds. It was many days before Mr. Foster asked if I wanted to let me try my hand at carving a wing on one of his birds. Boy! was I ready!
My first solo bird carving was a Goldfinch. It incorporated a few changes from the birds I had watched Mr. Foster carve, and I was concerned that he might take offense at my innovations. When I showed it to him for his critique, I was in suspense for several anxious minutes, while he looked the bird over carefully, finally declaring - to my great relief and pleasure - that I had done a good job on it. Before long, Mr. Foster was having me paint the finer details - “pinstripes”, as he called them - on his little birds. Meeting other woodcarvers like Hazel Tyrell from Canton, and Avis Brown from Malone, made lasting impressions on me as a young carver.
Of the more than three-thousand birds and animals I’ve carved since then, the majority of them have been Pocketknife carvings made with the very same Buck 307 jackknife I traded a 4X Bushnell rifle scope for over 35 years ago at an Aubuchon Hardware Store that used to exist on Main Street in AuSable Forks, NY. The remainder were “power-tool carvings”, shaped by using electric, flexible shaft tools with a wide variety of grinding and sanding bits along with a wood burner, or - in a few cases - chainsaws and angle grinders.
Every time I try so painstakingly to replicate a bird or animal, my appreciation for excellent artists - especially for the One who originally designed and created these incredibly beautiful creatures - increases.
Present home of Pondside Studio. We purchased this 'cabin' as a fixer-upper on August 30, 2011, moved in on December 3, and have enjoyed it every day since. Whiteface Mountain can be seen above the roofline.
A spectacular view of Whiteface Mountain from our home - 627 Glen Road, Jay, NY, the site of Pondside Studio, even though, as it happens, there is no pond anywhere within sight. The Studio moved to a new 'pond-less' location, but kept the name originally chosen when living beside the "40-acre pond" in the town of Long Lake.
Zach, Autumn, Robin, Allen
Shannon, Brennan, Megan
2008
Allen Robin Zach Autumn
Shannon Megan Brennan Makayla
2010
Five of us on the summit of Porter Mountain.
Zach, Robin, Megan, Shannon, Allen
Spring 2011
Zach, Robin, Megan, Shannon, Allen
Spring 2011
Christmas 2014 at the cabin.
Robin, Shannon, Megan, and Allen.
Christmas 2015 at the cabin.
Shannon, Allen, Robin, and Megan.
Zach, an expert bowsman,
on Union Falls Pond during a driftwood collecting trip.
May 2011
on Union Falls Pond during a driftwood collecting trip.
May 2011
Our daughter Megan & Brennan (Megan's nephew; our grandson)
July 2011
Shannon
on the rocks upstream from the covered bridge in Jay.
8-16-2011
Brennan
with a pocketknife Trout.
May 2011
with a pocketknife Trout.
May 2011
Makayla (one of our granddaughters)
playing in a warm Spring rain puddle.
May 2011
playing in a warm Spring rain puddle.
May 2011
A 2014 Christmas photo of our daughter, Autumn,
her husband, Justin, and their four beautiful children -
Alaina, Leah, Brennan, and Makayla.
Leah was a bit fearful of Santa,
so he snuck behind them for the photo!
her husband, Justin, and their four beautiful children -
Alaina, Leah, Brennan, and Makayla.
Leah was a bit fearful of Santa,
so he snuck behind them for the photo!
October 14, 2015 A picture of me standing at the end of my driveway, in front of a sign I made over 25 years ago which hung on the front of Hosley's Country Corner store in Long Lake, NY. I am holding the very same Buck 307 jackknife I modeled the sign after and have used to do all my pocketknife carving since 1974.
Makayla - March 2016
