A Green Man Menagerie

There’s nothing nicer than customers having interesting ideas for their tree carvings ~ the quirkier the better ~ and this one certainly fell into the “unusual” category: a Green Man (a good start), with a squirrel, a….fish…..and…..a lizard(?!). I must admit, the fish and the lizard threw me slightly, and I tried to persuade the customers that some more suitable woodland creatures would be more befitting; credit to them though, they stuck to their guns ~ the chosen wildlife had a strong personal meaning to the family, which I always like…I just had to try and link them together in a carving! I think the final result shows they were right to insist, as the sculpture works well with plenty of interest and character.

As usual with a Green Man, the nose is first to appear, and lots of wood is chopped away over the face area; then the features ~ mouth, eyes, cheeks ~ make their appearance, leaving plenty of wood to carve in the leaves where required.

allen-stichler-wood-carving

The next area took some thought ~ I’d planned to have the squirrel climbing down the tree, utilising a couple of large lumps and bumps in the wood, but after roughing out the squirrel’s head a large patch of dark brown pithy rot appeared ~ right in the middle of his forehead, and obviously not ideal. After a rethink I positioned the squirrel as though he was peeping out of a hole, with his tail curling out of another hole just above; this turned out to be a happy accident, as it gave the entire sculpture a bit of a story, with some humour and interest thrown in.

Roughing out the squirrel head; the circle of rot is visible on the extreme right, level with the head

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Beverley Festival is fast approaching ~  probably my biggest show of the year, with three full days of trading; in the past I’ve actually managed to carve some small pieces