The Meditative Practice of Carving

Remember those old Westerns, where some old-timer would be sittin' on the front stoop, whittlin' a piece of wood, with a piece of wheat stickin' outta his mouth?  I remember wondering why on earth anyone would do this!  Seemed like a pretty big waste of time to me (as if watching countless sitcoms during the '70s was time well spent).

Well, 35 years later, I'm happy to report that I finally get it.  :)

I began carving just last February out of sheer necessity - I had to make a set of stamps to be replicated for a mixed media class I was teaching, so I grabbed some Speedy Carve™ and got to work, knowing nothing about technique or tools.  The stamps turned out okay, but I carved too deep in many spots and the original stamps became pretty weak.  I'm glad I have them in bulk, or they'd be gone forever! Here's one of those original stamps I made:

Even without the benefit of knowledge or even any skill, I was HOOKED.  I began looking into battleship grey linoleum, which led me to wood (I still carve both).  It was also at this point where I began voraciously reading any book I could get my hands on that would teach me proper carving techniques.  And last November, I took my first woodcut class with the super-talented Angie Zimmerman at Sheboygan Visual Arts (read all about that fantastic experience here).

With a little more knowledge and practice under my belt, I began to relax a little and really enjoy the rhythm of carving.  For you hand-carvers out there, you know what I'm talking about.  :)  You just enter a zone.  And once you're in it, you find yourself whiling away hours doing something you enjoy immensely. My routine is to plug in my tablet into my stereo system, find the Miles Davis channel on Pandora, turn on my Ott-Lite™ (that I got for SUPER cheap thanks to my friend Janel!), and get to work.

Here's a piece I'm currently working on - I'm using my micro gouges, as it only measures 4" X 5" and there are some tiny spaces to carve (my favorite!).  Can you guess what it'll become?  :)

Private Lessons!

How lucky am I?

I was all set to take a woodcut class in Sheboygan, at EBCO Artworks, this neat co-op space that also houses Sheboygan Visual Artists.  It's only about 35 miles from my house, so it's also very convenient!

I got a message from Angie Zimmerman, who was to teach the class, that I was the only one who signed up. But instead of cancelling the class, she asked me if I wanted to take private lessons.

WOULD I?!?!?  Naturally, I jumped at the chance!  :D

I met Angie back in August, when I was one of three artists for the inaugural Lunchtime Art Talks series, hosted by our mutual friend, Frank Juarez.  We hit it off right away, and I knew that taking one-on-one lessons with Angie would not only be really informative and helpful, but also a blast!

I was right!  :D  I got some really helpful tips, like using a rubbing of your in-progress wood cut instead of doing a full-on proof - it's quicker, less messy, and gives you the same result.  She also showed me the differences a cut can make in your wood block, which you can see from some crayon rubbings, here (which are actually pretty cool in their own right!):

I never would've noticed the markings or lines on my wood block if Angie hadn't shown me how to do this!  :D

We've only had one lesson so far, with more to come soon.  But I was SO psyched from our first lesson that I went home and started this block of wheat "ears".

For me, the act of carving wood is so meditating, it's a wonderful process in and of itself.  Now that I'm armed with some more knowledge, it's become even more enjoyable!!  Can't wait 'til our next lesson - thank you so much, Angie!  :D