Friday 30 March 2012

AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE WE WILL SERVE THE LORD


This is commission from my sister in law Felicity Whitton. The wood is Magnolia and It is named after French botanist Pierre Magnol. It has a lovely grain to the wood, but I found it not as easy to get the letters crisp. But once finished and polished it worked out OK. On reflection I decided to paint the letters gold, though in this picture it is not as clear as I would of liked.



I LIKE THIS PICTURE, THE CLAMP HAS MADE A SHADOW OF A CROSS.
THE BEAUTIFUL MAGNOLIA TREE IN FULL BLOOM
MY EVER INCREASING CHISEL COLLECTION



Friday 23 March 2012

REST AWHILE

I had an idea for a children's bench, which could have a child's name carved into it. This bench is made from solid oak, which is lovely to carve. Oak is very expensive, but I managed to get a cheaper off cut to make this sample.






Friday 16 March 2012

NORWEGIAN WOOD - The Beatles wood carving


Not so much Norwegian Wood but rather Iroko wood. Iroko is a large hardwood tree from west coast of Africa. It is one of the woods sometimes referred to as African Teak. I have used this wood for my carved bricks. 

This is a piece that I have been working on over the last few weeks. I love the cover of the album With the Beatles, and this is my version of it. The photograph on the cover of the album was taken by Robert Freeman. He was the Beatles' most favoured photographer during the years 1963 to 1966 and shot arguably the most iconic images of them. The cover was shot by Freeman on 22 August 1963 in the Palace Court Hotel, in Bournemonth. Freeman recalls:“ They had to fit in the square format of the cover, so rather than have them all in a line, I put Ringo in the bottom right corner, since he was the last to join the group. He was also the shortest".

THIS PICTURE WAS TAKEN, JUST AFTER I HAD FINISHED THE BASIC CUT
I LIKE THIS PICTURE OF LENNON, WITH A SPOT LIGHT SHINING ON THE IMAGE

PHOTOGRAPHED IN MY GARDEN, WITH NATURAL LIGHT

AND WITH A PHOTOSHOP FILTER






Tuesday 6 March 2012

THE BRICK IS MITRE THAN THE SWORD


At long last, thanks to my friend Jack McInroy, my carving has had ecclesiastical approval. The Bishop of Southwark visited St Peter's School and was presented with a gift of one of my wooden bricks. According to Jack, he clearly liked it, and thought it was really wonderful. Bishop Christopher, posed outside, next to my carved flag.