Wood Carving

For the past few years I have been doing wood carving for the Log Home / Log Furniture industry. Here is a relief carving from a 12"x 14"x 2" slab of wood. This is the first of my carvings that I have done just for myself. I wanted to see what would happen if I could carve with the detail I love, and not be watching the clock like on a commercial piece. This was a lot of fun, and I am pretty pleased with it. You can't really see it from a strait on view, but the branches are freed from the background in several areas, creating a lot of depth to the relief. I flooded in some subtle color with thin washes of acrylic paint, and then many coats of varnish - both after lots of sanding! And I mean Lots! Sanding is the most time consuming (and patience building) step in a wood carving.