As work progresses, I get to see many interesting, unusual, and sometimes, beautiful sights in my Studio that I think you might enjoy. Here are a few of them.
First, a glimpse inside the Studio, itself, where you'll often find me sitting behind my work table surrounded by as much light as I can gather from the windows on either side of me and other lamps, and with a number of projects in varying stages of completion within easy reach.
My Studio has frequently changed location through the years, but some things always remain constant. There is always at least one table and chair. There are shelves on the walls, resource books everywhere, a genuinely crowded, and deceptively chaotic, appearance. I always prefer to have natural light behind me. I like to have as many of my books and tools within arm's reach, as possible. I seem to prefer situating myself in a corner. I usually wear an apron to keep wood chips, paint and glue off my clothing. I wear a good pair of leather gloves to protect my hands from bruising when I'm doing the hard and heavy work of roughing out carvings. Music can often be heard playing in the background.
Overall, it is a peaceful, orderly, and enjoyable - at least to me - atmosphere.
My Studio has frequently changed location through the years, but some things always remain constant. There is always at least one table and chair. There are shelves on the walls, resource books everywhere, a genuinely crowded, and deceptively chaotic, appearance. I always prefer to have natural light behind me. I like to have as many of my books and tools within arm's reach, as possible. I seem to prefer situating myself in a corner. I usually wear an apron to keep wood chips, paint and glue off my clothing. I wear a good pair of leather gloves to protect my hands from bruising when I'm doing the hard and heavy work of roughing out carvings. Music can often be heard playing in the background.
Overall, it is a peaceful, orderly, and enjoyable - at least to me - atmosphere.
Light plays such a large part in Art. And it takes dark shadows to accentuate light areas. I like this photo because it not only shows a typical scene on my studio table during the painting phase of a project - in this case, Goldfinches - but it is a fine picture from an artistic standpoint.
I never sell unpainted carvings - probably because nobody ever asks me for them and, if they did, they would cost more than the customer might expect since most of the time spent in making a carving has already been invested. But I like to photograph them at this stage. This carving happens to be a Song Sparrow, the prototype for the unfinished birds in the background.
Here, a resource book is open to a picture of a singing Song Sparrow - like the six little birds at the right of the photo - but two other projects are also at hand: Cedar Waxwings at the bottom left, and Yellow Warblers, I think, at the top of the photo.
I often have more than one project under way at a time.
I often have more than one project under way at a time.
What an unusual sight! Six Cedar Waxwings (carved, painted, and waiting for their legs) lined up on their backs! But such sights are common in the studio.
Repetition of form is a common aspect in Art. It intrigues me, at times, to see the interesting and attractive patterns that develop simply by grouping all the birds of a project together in different configurations. Here, a flock of Chickadees are huddled together in a grouping that likely never would occur in real life.
A view of a previous (Rte. 86, Wilmington, NY) studio from the doorway.
Another interesting and artistic sight: six Brown Creepers lined up on a shelf awaiting their bases and feet. I will put completed carvings off to the side like this for safe keeping while I use my table to work on other things. At this stage in a project, I often need the table to make the bases the birds are to be mounted on.
Many times, carvings will begin to come to life before my eyes. When that happens, I try to capture this special moment in a photo.
These Ruby-throated Hummingbirds have taken a lot of hard work to get them to this point. They are starting to look pretty good, so I snap a photo of them.
These Ruby-throated Hummingbirds have taken a lot of hard work to get them to this point. They are starting to look pretty good, so I snap a photo of them.
It was my privilege to be the Artist in Residence at the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mt. Lake, NY, for four years.
This picture, showing some of my work and the work/display table from one of those summers, was sent to me by my good friend, Rob Woodbridge.
Diamondback Terrapins have been under construction for the past several weeks. In this picture, they've been given a coat of varnish, and are drying. I sure picked a difficult project to make a dozen of! Turtles are difficult to carve and to paint. Normally, I would carve only a half dozen at a time. But eight were ordered, and I wanted one for myself, so I made an even dozen of them.
A flock of Painted Buntings in my studio! What a treat!
These birds are ready to be mounted onto their bases.
These birds are ready to be mounted onto their bases.
Ready for painting. Four life-sized Belted Kingfishers I am presently working on (January 18, 2015).
It doesn't get much prettier than this! A flock of newly 'hatched' Orioles. |
Acorns in various stages of production.
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A beautiful nightly visitor to the feeding boxes outside the studio --- a Northern Flying Squirrel.
Early in July 2016, the studio finally got its west loft window installed, its west peak framed in, and its west side covered with tarpaper.
The little 1 hp Grizzly dust collector does a fine job during powertool carving. Being under the studio's insulated floor, it is safe from the weather and the little noise it makes when operating isn't noticeable in the studio.
