crazy carvers and how they do it. 

         how did i get started carving?   

        well when i started carving , it was kind of a have to situation. i had some bad luck  farming and sold most of what i had  to pay bills and was able to go out and visit with mom and dad when they needed help in roswell , new mexico. while i was out there i happened on to a town called riudoso , new meexico , about 110 miles from roswell in the sierra blanca mountains. driving southwest from roswell and its flat desert plains and tumbling tumble weed , you rise higher into the mountains as you climb up to the resort town of riudoso. there are pine forrests and snow and deer and some moose i believe they were, as i drove along. 

        ruiudoso is a ski resort in the wintertime out there as you climb even higher up the mountain to the ski chalet. and all along the roads leading into town are the bear vendors . who will carve you a bear for 60 dollars in 15 minutes. they were your standard bears , but they also had huge bears lining the streets and around the art shops , doors were thrown open to receive you in the art district. western prints and decor, along with leather this or thats , and mayan and hopi indian crafts also were to be found. 

        mom and some other people mentioned i needed to check this out. and since i was looking for new direction in my life . i felt i should give it a try. i finally after stopping at numerous bear shops , found this guy at one of them , easy to talk to . and later finding out he was from ohio, also seemed to make it easier. he had an old gas station converted over to a bear emporium , and he was in the process of working on a bear. as i had checked out his bears and was impressed, but only seemed to find them alarmingly quite similar , and looking back they were . he fired up the chainsaw and did a few quick slices shut it down and grabbed a grinder, he showed me the bear essentials as we like to call it. 

        to me it was perfect line of work for me as i had always been an artist since i could remember , making things like ships with railings  to float in streams on the farm when i was a little kid. . i looked at my assets and realized that i had chainsaw and access to large amounts of wood and plenty of time due to being laid off, it only seemed to be natural thing to do. 

        so upon my return to ohio and eagerly awaiting my multitude of saws and wood pieces i had acquired i set about the task of carving . i can remember using a large sears saw i had , and it had this large round tip . anyhow the first one didn't do so good , and after second one i said forget it . thinking for sure there was something my fellow ohioan had left out . and there was. 

       perseverance to keep on going despite the odds. a can do attitude. if you don't have this it will always show in your work. you also have to be willing to adapt to meet the changing need. you cut to much off his ears , and you have to adjust face width to make bear believable. or you might have to adjust height. or you may have to make another total animal as you hit a bad spot in your sawing on a log. and in the worst case make a toothpick out of him. then there is the ultimate , making sure no one sees this one and that is firing it up and forgetting to put out the flames. 

       knowledge  of how to finish log , and how to find a soft log as opposed to a hard wood . even though the hard wood is more dense it takes more work to use hard wood , and detailing is harder also. you need to know how to finish your carving for the ultimate touch to distinguish your work from others.  be that in fire, paint , technique , all the same details to attention that all artists employ regardless of their medium. 

       guess while you  are wanting for something, patience is a virtue few have but many seek. and in the chainsaw carving world is very important, that you take time to succeed on all levels. 

     one more trait is that it would be nice to have a thick skin , to separate and calm your self  when critics with less talent or understanding abound. at first i was happy to give away my work , till people started stealing them  and then i knew i had it made. so i started charging. i have gave away a lot of bears over the years and other carvings as gifts to people. but somewhere along the line i needed to charge.
      the ability to have some talent in seeing things, an imagination is always necessary if nothing else but to imagine you are going to make lots of money and have world acclaim , well this takes boatloads of imagination.
       there was in fact a lot that my fellow ohioan had left out. and like learning how to do anything i eagerly sought the task. 

        i started learning more about what it took to be a good carver and achieved that quickly. now though i am waning in my ability to carve due to a bad back . i have to severely limit myself to shorter carving times. this yields substantially fewer carvings i mostly keep at this time. not knowing what is in store for tomorrow. 

      and now i am again looking for new ways to incorporate my carving ability to art in other ways. possibly getting into hand carving or mixed media. and would still like to find individuals willing to learn how to carve. 

     in some ways i could be depressed about my ability to do as i once did . but understand it is all part of a larger plan. sometimes destiny decides which turn in the road to seek and you really have nothing to do about it but accept. here is where i am , but tomorrow?