tributesinwood

Wood Carvings by Mark Sheridan

Archive for the month “February, 2014”

23 Feb 2014

Fergus the Basset Hound

Work has begun on Fergus, the Basset Hound modelled after my earlier carving of Hobo ( with Ned ).

I have the head roughed in with his big ears flowing in the wind.  Remember that the idea here is to have Fergus enjoying a stiff breeze off of the end of a pier.

The head is being carved separately from the body as I want the head turned a bit to the side rather than have the head and body in a single straight line.  I think that this will look a lot nicer once the little dog is standing on the pier.

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And speaking of the pier…I have it underway as well.  If you refer back to my concept drawing, you’ll notice that I’ve oriented the pier slats differently.  Again, once I started roughing out the carving, the side to side slats just looked nicer to me and would give any viewer of the carving more to look at once the individual slats are detailed in with all of the irregularities of an aged pier.

I like those ropes around the pier supports.

Thanks for dropping by to see this project underway.

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23 Feb 2014
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George Proud Feather

George Proud Feather is starting to take shape.  The torso of the bust will be deerskin with bead work and you can see the start of the beadwork on the front of the jacket, here.

I also added in the bear collar, a neckerchief and a medallion that will have three feathers draped from it.

Not sure what emblem will be on the medallion…I’ll have to think about that.  Right now I can picture a native Canadian emblem of some fashion.

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Below, is the start to the head.  The plan is to have braided hair wrapped in deerskin decorated with more beadwork.  I’m looking forward to that carving.

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19 Feb 2014

A Couple of New Projects

I started a new project just a little while ago…a bust.  I tried to complete a bust some time ago when I began my 1812 figure of “Corporal Duncan Sowerby”, but got so carried away with the carving that I ended up carving a complete caricature.

This time, I’m going to stick with the bust and have cut out the beginnings of what will become “George Proud Feather”.  I liked the bear collar that Lynne Doughty used on a recent bust and would like to combine that with a photo that I recently saw on the web of a Cheyenne tribesman.  I’m picturing something that will include a deerskin jacket with lots of bead-work.

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My second project is as a result of a few e-mail conversations with a new friend who would like to see a caricature likeness of her favourite buddy, Fergus.  Having seen my caricature of Hobo, she sent me a few photos of Fergus along with a personality description that I’d like to think would be a good description of the life in my little carving!  Fergus likes the water and wind, so we’re starting into creating something along the lines of the sketch below.

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I’ve begun the pier supports and the rope and I’ll include an update on both of these carvings later again this week.

Enjoy the development of these two projects…and if you have ideas that will improve either, please weigh in.

Thanks, Mark.

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07 Feb 2014
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Hamilton Woodcarving Show 2014

The Canadian Carving Show was held again this year in Hamilton, Ontario at the War Heritage Museum adjacent to the International Airport.  Again, my daughter, Emily, and I were able to get together for a day to take in the show and also enjoy a visit to our favourite Indian restaurant and a bit of a shopping spree at IKEA.  A lot of fun.

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We attended together on Saturday, and I returned on Sunday to take in more of the show.  The event was very well attended in  spite of some extreme snow and ice conditions that hampered travel that weekend.  Being a combination of wood-working and wood-carving, the show attracted in a lot of suppliers and craftspeople with common interests.  There were some very good deals to be had on supplies and equipment as well as some excellent demonstrations to take in.

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The museum was also available to all wood show participants, and Emily and I made good use of that.  95% of the aircraft, of which only a few are shown in the photo below, are airworthy.  I believe that the Lancaster, shown here, is one of only two airworthy Lancasters left in the world.  I know that I’ve seen this Lanc fly overhead several times when I’ve visited my hometown of Niagara Falls.

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I’m not exactly sure how many carvers brought carvings to the show…but, there were a lot of beautifully crafted items in all categories.  I wish that I had recorded the individual’s name, but, one craftsman brought a cello that he had made.

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Corporal Duncan Sowerby was awarded 2nd in Open Caricatures and proudly stood next to many exceptional carvings in the caricatures category.  I also got a chance to talk with a number of caricature carvers who brought great carvings.  A couple of photos of some of the carvings are included below, but several more are on the Flickr Site that you can link to at the side of this page.

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Although I’ve been very proud of my “Hobo and Ned” carving, I can tell you that Emily’s and my jaw dropped when we saw that the judges awarded it 1st in Open Caricatures, 1st in Open, and, 1st Best in Show.  What a thrill and what a memory.

Be sure to attend this outstanding event next year.

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