Face in walnut

[Mark Burge]

I haven't posted much carving, because I don't do much carving, but I'm trying to change that. I usually hang out in the turning forum but I took a break for some flat work and this face. I scrolled out the major sections from my drawing on a board. Then each piece was carved individually. The brow and mouth were bleached (I actually used common household bleach and got the result I wanted). The eyes were burnt. The pieces were reassembled and glued. I did some clean up work to get the sections to flow together and then finished with Tung Oil.

The inspiration was twofold, first there is a pizza place in my town (or was, it went out of business) that had the cool graphic drawings of head shots that had really heavy brows and close set eyes. It got me thinking and I sketched out some drawings. I also drew on the face masks of the southeast Indian tribes that are displayed at Moundville in central Alabama.

Thanks for looking and comments and critiques are welcome. Gentle please, I haven't been carving long.:o

[Mark Burge]

Oops, here's the pics.

[Karl Andersson]

Hi Mark,
I figured I'd comment since this forum is pretty quiet - I'm trying to get some photos together to post some of my own carving "soon".

So, I like your idea - I've been to moundville but they didn't have the museum back then, just the mound. I like to look at primitive carvings and figure out what tools they used. Might be fun to try a mask done with only one big gouge, see what shapes you can make with that enforced "simplicity".

You made an interesting piece, and I can see that you spent a good deal of time carving and gouging and inletting the lip and brow.

About how big is it? I hope you don't mind some artistic suggestions for displaying it: if it is larger, like lifesize, maybe you could add some tribal touches, like twisted bark hair, or a nailed-on fringe of shells or old coins on the bottom...or a scalp, although I think the moundbuilders weren't into those. If it is smaller you could do a group of them to mass the effect and add different character. Then it might become an obsession to make your tribe, and friends and family would try to figure out which one was them.

Stick with the carving - maybe your next turned piece should have a band of gouge marks, just to keep you carving

Later,
Karl

[Mark Burge]

Thanks for the comments Karl, I like the idea of adding some extra stuff to it. Seems like I saw some mask artifacts that had skins applied for hair. The size is about 4.5 inches tall, so it is about half life size. I may have to keep at this as a series and increase the size of my tribe. Ha! They could be the Unibrownees.

[Bill Dieckman]

I really like these primitive-style carvings and masks. There is so much character in the minimalistic features. I originally got turned onto them when I was really into origami. There are some artists who do amazing things with wet paper and folds.
A more recent similar find was a young artist using only toilet paper rolls to create great faces. Juniour Jacquet (http://villageofjoy.com/weird-toilet-paper-roll-sculptures-by-junior-jacquet/)

I hope to work my way to more sculptural carving as I learn the basics adding minor decoration to the spoons I'm working on now.

[Mark Burge]

Ha! I really like the t-p art. Thanks for the link Bill. Yes, I was going for primitive in that I kept much of the tool marks, but I was also trying to bring out a sketch quality to the work. That resulted in the minimalist lines and my use of shading. Thanks for your comments. You should try some sculpture. I find it quite fun to work on.