Castle Study

Merry Christmas

Kings to You Fernand

Story of the King

I have two highly competitive friends. They aren't particularly competitive people as much as they are competitive with each other. They have an ongoing joke that when one has a success in life the other loathes him out of jealousy. Over the years they have mirrored the story of The Count of Monte Cristo and the relationship between the Count Mondego and Edmond Dantes. To further enhance and relive this relationship my two friends have ambitiously flaunted any success to the other. Both are truly talented and amazing people and some of the successes have included college graduation, med school acceptance, high paying careers and most recently marriage. This last success sparked the idea to, as a wedding gift, create a king piece that can be given when one is  "king of the moment". I helped my good friend with this project and the following is what we came up with!

Here is the alder box we made to house the king piece. The fleur de lis was added to give the box a more french feel.

Hand carved from basswood.

The red velvet and silk pillow were all hand sewn into the box. 

We ended up adding gold leaf to the king piece to give it a more royal feel. 

Ole Tavern Sign

One of my best friends recently got married and I didn't know what gift I was going to get him until I visited him in Seattle. We went to go get fish and chips on the wharf and as we were walking we both admired the old wooden wharf signs. After seeing them I asked if he would like me to build him a wooden sign. I've never really heard anyone hanging one of those on their wall inside their house but he went with it. We decided that his families' last name would be at the top and that the symbols representing his family and the words depicting his newly formed family motto would line the bottom.

It was a fun project and I think it turned out as well as we had hoped.

Two, one-inch-thick planks of pine glued and biscuit joined. 

Here is the initial drawing and I have started to router out the mountain.

This is the final carving after routing, carving, cutting, and sanding.

Details on the final product after painting and staining it. 

The final product.

The Ents

Log Carving

I just took up log carving. I bought some carving tools and put them to the test. My first challenge was finding a piece of wood that I could use to carve. I ended up going out to a nearby forest and cut up a fallen tree. Once I started to carve the face the log started to crack. It was still wet and I think next time I will have to let the log dry out a few months before I start to carve. Once finished I painted the face with acrylic paint, sanded it down and then put a stain over it to protect it and darken it a little further. I hope to do more carving as there are lots of possibilities. It was a very soothing project to do.

Sketch of The Day

Skipping Rocks

Wilkerson Farm

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to paint a buddies farm. This particular painting was done with oil on canvas. I was asked to do paint it around dusk. My buddy Richard decided to start a farm at 23 and since then has seen lots of success. Quite a business venture, Im not sure if I would be brave enough to start earning my income as a farmer, but Richard does it well. It seems that since he has started he has learned many of life's important lessons while working on his farm.

Spring

Still trying to find an illustration style I like. One step closer. 

Here is another digital sketch. I have been trying to learn how to paint on the computer. Still a work in progress but there are some components that I like. Still trying to master what brushes to use and where. 

Sailing the storm

I want to do a painting with a sailboat. This digital sketch kinda helps me see where I want to head with the painting. 

Panda

I had an old piece of wood lying around. Didn't want to go buy a canvas but still had the urge to paint something. This is what I came up with.

Craving some warmer weather. Digital painting of Pounders Beach