I Don't Feel Tardy (Part II)

There are two things that are my least favorite to carve.  They are circles and letters.  Drawing Lesson has both of them.  My lack of enthusiasm for carving circles and letters might be why I carved Drawing Lesson last.  Then again, I could just be a slacker......

The Drawings:  I start by laying everything out in pencil and then go over the lines with a black marker.

Sometimes as the design unfolds I shift elements around or add new things.  The natural 'imperfections' in the wood contribute to the dialog as to how the composition unfolds.  In the images below, I decided to shift the word 'really'.

 Once I realized that I needed to shift the word 'really' I painted over the old marker lines so I wouldn't get confused as to which markered lines to carve (I try to take 'the thinking' out of carving so I am focused on just execution).

What the new positioning looks like after it has been carved out.

I clean the green paint out of the brush on to a sculpture that is going to need to be primed (Hey, why waste paint?)

 The Carving:  Here are some shots at different stages during carving with my trusty Dremel Tool.

The Fitting:  Once everything is carved I spray the for panels of the frame black and make sure everything fits properly around the canvas.

The Painting:  The final stage is painting the frame.  Spray painting the frames black beforehand gives the line work crisp visual distinction.

I even got desperate enough for some Titanium White Paint that I ripped a dried out tube of paint in half to squeeze out the absolute last little bit of gooey paint trapped in the bottom of the tube.

The Final Product: 

Stay tuned for the next installment when you go to Paddletown USA!