wood were it that easy

I'm attempting something new for me with this one. Instead of carving out the design I draw in, I'm carving out the stuff around it. I've started to attempt this before, but that was on a large 18-inch chunk of wood I was attacking with a mallet that is still sitting in the garage in Texas.

This one is another remainder board, 1x6, white wood.



I'm using #4 and #2 gouges.

The #2 is V shaped, the #4 is more U shaped and wider to get the larger areas. The #2 gets in between the lines and edges easier, then I scoop out with the #4.

I haven't quite decided what to do with the spaces on the other half of the board yet, so those are blank for now.

I'll sand down the pencil lines and all the rough scooped out areas later.

Valentines Day

Amber sent me flowers for Valentine's Day. I cried so hard, she's so sweet. It's very hard being away from my friends and family for so long.



Rob got me an adorable card and he included a hand written note sharing how he feels about me. He made me cry too. He's simply lovely.

What gets so hard for me is that I do love him so, but I don't feel right being here. I miss my family and friends, I miss the space and supplies to create, I miss the sunshine. But he makes me smile. He comes home after work and we wrap together in a hug. It's his smile that makes me melt, his heart that makes me love him even more.

bright

There's the heart, can you see it?

Close up

It's become kind of a signature thing now for me, to have a heart symbol somewhere in all my works. I have a stamp I use on the back of carvings usually, and the paintings have the heart somewhere worked into it.

Done Blue Moasic

Sometimes I can't sleep. Sometimes I stay up late anyway. Such as being a night owl. The dark surrounds and I flip on the lights in the garage. The humming fluorescent lights. The smell of sawdust from the last project. Or the smell of paint from the last time I worked out here.

This is a lovely space to make a mess, to hum along with the music pulsing through my earphones, to dance around the table and shimmy and press the brush into the paint then to the canvas.

Squeeze out the paint, swirl onto the brush, tip the paint to the black canvas. Press, slide, lift. Almost like a dance. Leaving a mark of color behind.

The finished piece looks like pixels falling in alternate colors. The finished piece now hangs in my parent's living room. My mom likes the blues I used.