Subtractive Art

Most of my creative endeavors, including composing music and writing books, are considered additive art forms. Painting would also be included in this class because each of them builds one thing on another to create a whole.

Carving is the only truly subtractive art form I practice. It has taught me how to be a better writer, both of music and text. To create a carving from a solid piece of wood, I remove everything that is not the art.

There is a quote floating around about being an author. I don’t know who originated it, but it goes something like this: Being a writer is easy. You just stare at a blank page until you begin to sweat blood from your brow.

Once I’m past that hurdle, I allow words to flow as they will until the muse is exhausted and then I begin the editing process. That’s where the carving experience comes into play. I begin chipping away at anything that distracts attention from the focal point of the piece.

The main tool I have been honing lately is clarity. I began that process while researching the material that five years later became a book titled The Sage Age – Blending Science with Intuitive Wisdom. At the time, I had not entertained the idea of writing a book. I simply wanted to be clear on a few concepts that had surfaced in pop culture that attempted to marry ideas from quantum physics with New Age thought.

Since then, I’ve combined clarity with the razor-sharp tool I seemed to have brought into this world with me, which was focus. Together they make an amazing pair at chipping away the superfluous and helping me get to the root of the mystery.

I’ve only been carving for a few years. I’m still learning and exploring, but I can already tell that this is a fine choice of hobby for me because of how it has already enriched the quality of my life. And, it’s kind of cool to walk down the hall and see the tangible representation of those lessons hanging on the wall. I can’t do that with a book or a song.

When is a Tree Dead?

The other night I watched a repeat of one of my favorite shows on NPT. It’s titled Tree Safari: A Sculptural Journey and it tells the story of a trip that world renowned woodcarver Brad Sells made to Africa. He was in search of some special wood called pink ivory.

The massive trees from which pink and red ivory come are extraordinarily slow growing, meaning that they have very tight growth rings. The wood is so dense that it is nearly as hard as a rock.

The trees are protected by the local governments because they are so rare. Special permission must be obtained to purchase and transport the wood, which cannot be removed from the country as a whole log. But, before any wood removal can be done, permission must also be sought from a higher authority.

The trees are primarily located in Zulu country where they are considered sacred. The bark from them is used for medicinal purposes as well.

Brad Sells is a spiritual man. He didn’t go to Africa simply in search of trees. He looked forward to interacting with the people who had tree knowings. When told that he would have to consult with a revered tribe elder and shaman, Brad was honored to be in the presence of wisdom that had been passed down through generations of a people still intimately connected with their natural surroundings.

Credo “Baba” Mutwa is the most venerated Zulu Sanusi in the country and whose permission had to be given for Brad to remove any wood from the area. When asked which tree Brad had in mind, he said that it was one that already showed signs of dying, to which Mutwa replied:

"When is a tree dead? Because we, who grow up amongst trees know that even a dead tree is alive. So, it’s just a funny question, when is a tree dead? Some trees become more alive when dead than when they were alive."

The spiritual implications of those words ring in my mind every time I sit down to carve. I’m carving trees from trees.

I can also look at the fallen limbs and branches in the woods behind my house and see that they have become food for the ground as well as for a multitude of crawly things. Plus, they serve as shelter and hiding places for small furry creatures. I see twigs of those fallen trees scattered among the other trees in the form of bird’s nests that will house another generation of winged things for a time.

So, when is a tree dead?

I have no plans to remove a piece of pink ivory wood from Africa. But I would like to take a safari; a spiritual one to sit at the feet of Sanusi Mutwa for a while and see what else I can learn.

New Lighting for Tutorial Photos

Since the step-by-step tutorial of my current project will be featured in a magazine this fall, I finally bit the bullet and bought some professional lighting for the photographs. The guest room has now become Studio A, as you can see below.



The little Canon PowerShot I have is great, but the lighting makes all the difference in showing the true details of the work. I'm looking forward to using this lighting for a new video project early this spring too. I'll be recording a lecture on How Thoughts Become Reality based on topics covered in my book The Sage Age - Blending Science with Intuitive Wisdom.

Featured Magazine Carving

Happy news! I just started a new carving that will be featured in the Fall edition of a Fox Chapel magazine. They are the publishers of both Woodcarving Illustrated and Scrollsaw Woodcarving & Crafts.

My carvings have been previously featured in both magazines, and now they've asked me to do a full tutorial on the special techniques I use to get three layers of depth in a blank that is only one quarter inch thick.

I'm honored and delighted to have the opportunity to share the how-to with more folks. Tutorials from previous carvings can be found on this blog, but they don't show the secret technique for creating the depth. You'll have to wait for the magazine for that.

Be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed for this blog to be notified when the magazine comes out and to get other tricks and tips for my carvings.

Top Pick for Holiday Gifts

I'm very excited to tell you that Heartwood Art carvings got Top Pick in Holiday Gifts That Don't Suck list on Examiner.com!

The author of the column, Judith Yates, also runs the Bohemian Nashville! MeetUp group, which includes a diverse membership of performing and visual artists. It's a great way to meet other artists in the 'hood and they also host/list upcoming shows in which members participate.

Follow My Carving - Gnarly Tree - It's Finished

To celebrate Heartwood Art carvings being featured in upcoming issue of Woodcarving Illustrated the "Follow My Carving" series was created to give you a an insider’s view on how the art is made.



The carving is complete and mounted in a custom frame that was provided by Connie Weaver, owner of S & S Framing. The deep colors of the frame nicely offset the light honey-tone of the wood.

I hope you have enjoyed this Follow My Carving series. Feel free to contact me directly with your comments or post them here on the blog. You can see a full animation of close-ups by visiting the 2009 Gallery. The carving is now available for sale.

Follow My Carving - Gnarly Tree - Step 23

To celebrate Heartwood Art carvings being featured in upcoming issue of Woodcarving Illustrated the "Follow My Carving" series was created to give you a an insider’s view on how the art is made.

The final lacquer finish has been applied and the carving is ready to frame. There are two important measurements you’ll want to take on your frame before you even begin the carving. They are pictured below.












You’ll need to know the width of the inside of the frame so you can give your pattern enough blank space before the carving begins. In other words, you wouldn’t want part of your carving to be behind that part of the frame.

You’ll also need measure the depth of the frame and make arrangements to fill in any gap behind the carving. The next installment will show methods for filling this gap and ways to secure the carving in the frame.

To see more carvings, please visit the Heartwood Art site.

Follow My Carving - Gnarly Tree - Step 22

To celebrate Heartwood Art carvings being featured in upcoming issue of Woodcarving Illustrated the "Follow My Carving" series was created to give you a an insider’s view on how the art is made.

With just the first coat of oil the leaf patterns in the corners are already beginning to standout. The oil will pool a little in the carved lines and darken compared to the sanded flat wood around them. This gives distinction to the lines.



At least three more coats of Danish oil will be needed before applying the final sealant finish.

To see more carvings, please visit the Heartwood Art site.

Follow My Carving - Gnarly Tree - Step 21

To celebrate Heartwood Art carvings being featured in upcoming issue of Woodcarving Illustrated the "Follow My Carving" series was created to give you a an insider’s view on how the art is made.

The bark carving is finished and the final cleanup of the carving is done. It’s time to start the oiling process. I’ve made a square frame that will allow me to oil both sides of the carving at the same time and allow it to air dry on both sides. The first step is to place staples in the sides. This stapler has a wire guide setting that leaves a gap instead of inserting the staple flush. The carving must be laid flat and a little downward pressure applied while the staple is being inserted. Don’t try to do this with the carving standing on end or it may crack.



Small wires are inserted through the staples. The carving is placed in the square frame and the wires are wound around screws on each side.



I usually start by oiling the backside first. Be sure to oil the outer edges. I use Danish oil because it gives a nice honey brown glow to the wood and does not leach out over time like boiled linseed oil can do. I used to apply the oil with an artist’s brush suitable for oil painting, but have since found that a standard acid brush used to apply flux for welding and such works just as well and is far cheaper. The oil is applied in thin coats. The first one is absorbed rather quickly. If I apply it in the morning I can usually apply a second coat by early evening. It usually takes about four coats in all.

To see more carvings, please visit the Heartwood Art site.

Follow My Carving - Gnarly Tree - Step 20

To celebrate Heartwood Art carvings being featured in upcoming issue of Woodcarving Illustrated the "Follow My Carving" series was created to give you a an insider’s view on how the art is made.


Bark carving is fairly easy, but takes a lot of patience and a soft touch, especially on the smaller branches. A consistent direction must be maintained to give a realistic look. I generally start at the base of the trunk, where it meets the roots, and carve straight up, turning the direction gradually when I come to a limb.

It’s necessary to make some of the strokes go a bit beyond the edge, but great care must be taken to protect the tool in this process. The edge of a micro-carving gouge is somewhat fragile. I always carve with a piece of soft wood under the carving. A plywood blank made of birch serves well for this purpose. If one of those stabbing strokes pierces the blank, little damage will be done to the top of the gouge.

I usually put downward pressure on branches when I’m nearing the end of them. This gives extra support and keeps the thin wood from breaking when I make an angled stroke. Care must be taken not to stab the thumb that’s applying the pressure. Whittling thumb guards can help, but I keep a box of bandages on hand, just in case. I’ve rarely done a carving that did not requires some sort of blood sacrifice, tiny as they may be.

Before I started the bark carving, I created a few knot holes. I didn’t make them as pronounced on this carving as usual because it is already very busy with all the twists and turns of the limbs. Elbows where the branch takes a turn of direction are great places for knotholes. I simply left the area high when giving it the original shape and then used a round ball bit on a rotary tool to make the hole. It’s just a little deeper than the bark carving and will cast enough of a shadow to distinguish it as a hole.

To see more carvings, please visit the Heartwood Art site.

Follow My Carving - Gnarly Tree - Step 19

To celebrate Heartwood Art carvings being featured in upcoming issue of Woodcarving Illustrated the "Follow My Carving" series was created to give you a an insider’s view on how the art is made.

Now that the circle around the tree is finished, it’s time to start on the leaves that adorn the corners. The same technique used on the circle outline works well here too. Since the lines can be a little tricky to see, I go over them lightly with a pencil first. Then I make a shallow incision with a carving knife all the way around and then another pass to deepen the cut. Next, I use a veiner tool (micro V gouge), to deepen and widen the cut slightly. This is the rough cut.

Since I need the lines to be more deep than wide, I use a rotary tool with a very narrow, pointed bit to deepen the lines smoothly. Running it at it’s slowest speed and holding it at a very shallow angle seems to work best for me.

After I deepen the lines a bit, I use an orbital sander with a triangular shaped face to lightly sand the entire surface outside the circle around the tree. Using this type of sander gives me good control and I can stay with the grain and get right up to the edge of the circle.

Once the sanding is finished, I go back over the leaf lines with the rotary tool to further deepen the lines and to clean up any edges. The final leaf looks like the picture to the right. It’s important to keep in mind that once a section of wood has been sanded, it’s not a good idea to go back over it with a carving gouge. Sandpaper debris and the finely honed edges of metal gouges don’t get along too well.

The leaf pattern is very versatile and can be slightly modified so that it can be scrolled, chip carved, or burned into the wood.

After all four leaves are finished, I go over the entire carving, front and back, to ensure every edge is clean with no burrs, loose chips or fuzzy edges. This is especially important in areas where branches meet.

The last step in the carving process is the bark, and that will be in the next installment.

To see more carvings, please visit the Heartwood Art site.

Follow My Carving - Gnarly Tree - Step 18

To celebrate Heartwood Art carvings being featured in upcoming issue of Woodcarving Illustrated the "Follow My Carving" series was created to give you a an insider’s view on how the art is made.



To make the decorative carving for the circle, I start with a few straight, shallow cuts (on the right). All cuts are made toward the center of the circle. I then begin to make angled cuts (on the left). The depth and angle of these cuts are varied to break up any pattern. I simply want to texture the circle to give the tree an interior frame. The result is below.



If you are a chip carver, you could make an interesting pattern in the circle. It’s important, though, to make the border simple. You don’t want it to distract from the main focal point, which is the tree.

I’ll start carving the leaves that decorate the outer corner in the next installment.

To see more carvings, please visit the Heartwood Art site.

Follow My Carving - Gnarly Tree - Step 17

Now that the limbs are shaped, I move to the outside carvings. I’m going to add a decorative carving to the circle around the tree and, in doing so, I may knick one of the branches. If I do, the bark carving will easily hide it.



I used a carving knife to make a very shallow outline of the circle before I removed the pattern. I went back over the outline with the knife several more times, deepening the cut as I went. You can see that line toward the top of the picture. Next, I used a micro-veining gouge, which is a super tiny V shaped gouge, to deepen and widen the line a bit. You can see the beginning of that near the bottom of the picture.

The micro-viener is perfect for this job because I don’t actually want to go too deep with the cut. Relief carving is all about illusion of depth. I simply want to make the line deep and wide enough to cast a nice shadow. The outline will also act as a stop cut when I begin to apply the decorative carving.

The next installment will show the decorative carving.

To see more carvings, please visit the Heartwood Art site.

Follow My Carving - Gnarly Tree - Step 16

To celebrate Heartwood Art carvings being featured in upcoming issue of Woodcarving Illustrated the "Follow My Carving" series was created to give you a an insider’s view on how the art is made.

If you carve enough trees, sooner or later you're bound to come across a weak part of the wood and either break a branch or remove it on purpose. This is one of the reasons it's important to modify the design to coordinate with the actual blank you will be using. Sometimes, though, you just won't know until you begin carving. The wood around this branch was weak, so I chose to remove it. I'll simply shape it so it looks like a natural break of a limb.

If you'll look through the gallery, you'll see that I choose to incorporate broken limbs into some of the original designs. These are small branches that were never meant to attach to anything other part of the carving. If you choose to do this, design it bigger than you intend for it end up. Because it is only supported on one side, it will likely break near the tip end. So, just plan to make it shorter as you carve.

One other thing to keep in mind is that as you carve and make the limbs and branches smaller, the entire structure becomes weaker and it will begin to bow. You may have to hold some of the limbs flat or give them a little support on the opposite side of your carving stroke. If a unintended limb does break, you'll have to decide how to incorporate it into the carving. It's not very hard to do. As the famous Italian sculpture, Michaelangelo might have said, "Fuhgeddaboudit."



To see more carvings, please visit the Heartwood Art site.

Follow My Carving - Gnarly Tree - Step 15

To celebrate Heartwood Art carvings being featured in upcoming issue of Woodcarving Illustrated the "Follow My Carving" series was created to give you a an insider’s view on how the art is made.

There's a bit of trick to making the branches stand out from the limbs. A very shallow angle is used to make short, stabbing cuts just at the line where the two meet.

A great deal of care is needed not to cut into the branch and not to stab too hard. I always use a piece of soft wood underneath my carving. That way, if the stabbing stroke does go through, the tips and edges of my gouge will not be damaged. A fine cutting edge is very thin, and therefore, somewhat fragile.

Several short strokes are needed to deepen the cut.

The final result looks like this. The edges are cut much deeper next to the branch and tapered out along the edge to blend in with the rest of the branch.
The second part of the trick is to cut the lower part of the limb at an angle. This gives it the illusion of falling away and underneath the branch.



To see more carvings, please visit the Heartwood Art site.

Follow My Carving - Gnarly Tree - Step 14

To celebrate Heartwood Art carvings being featured in upcoming issue of Woodcarving Illustrated the "Follow My Carving" series was created to give you a an insider’s view on how the art is made.

Patience and a soft touch are required at this stage of the carving. The limbs are carved with short, shallow strokes that remove only small pieces of waste wood at a time. The limbs are far too fragile to withstand the pressure necessary to take large chunks out with single strokes.

Here you can see the just a few of the shavings removed in shaping just a few branches.

You’ll also notice that the lines left from long, straight strokes are noticeable on the smaller branches. Less material can be removed from them, else they become too weak. The shaping lines will disappear once the bark carving is added.





















To see more carvings, please visit the Heartwood Art site.

Follow My Carving - Gnarly Tree - Step 13

To celebrate Heartwood Art carvings being featured in upcoming issue of Woodcarving Illustrated the "Follow My Carving" series was created to give you a an insider’s view on how the art is made.

Carving limbs and branches is so much fun. Here’s the final shape of the first limb. As you can see, it looks like it has lots of twists and turns, which will ultimately give this tree its gnarly character. If you look closely on the right side of the limb near the trunk, you’ll see a thin line right down the middle of the face that has not been carved. I intentionally left this part high and did not round it off. The line will disappear once the bark carving has been added.



Here’s what became of that knot I left high in the elbow area. When I do the bark carving I’ll give it more detail.



To see more carvings, please visit the Heartwood Art site.

Follow My Carving - Gnarly Tree - Step 12

To celebrate Heartwood Art carvings being featured in upcoming issue of Woodcarving Illustrated the "Follow My Carving" series was created to give you a an insider’s view on how the art is made.

Since this particular limb doesn’t have any branches coming from the bottom, the edges are simply rounded over with long, shallow strokes.



Those are then broken up by short, shallow strokes to give the limb character. This also adds elements of shadow, which contribute to the illusion of dimensionality. You’ll notice that I’m not cutting into the elbow area much. That’s because I want it to remain higher than the rest of the limb. I’ll probably make a bit of a knot on it later.



In the next installment, I’ll really dig into the limb and give it a personality.

To see more carvings, please visit the Heartwood Art site.

Follow My Carving - Gnarly Tree - Step 11

To celebrate Heartwood Art carvings being featured in upcoming issue of Woodcarving Illustrated the "Follow My Carving" series was created to give you a an insider’s view on how the art is made.

Shaping the limbs is one of my favorite parts of carving these trees. Each one has its own personality.



I start at the stop cuts between the limbs. Angling the cut down into the stop cut helps give the illusion of the lower limb slightly receding behind the upper limb. The same treatment is given to the branch area on the left. These angled areas will cast deeper shadows than the surrounding wood and add to the illusion.

The rest of the limb is rounded using long, shallow strokes. These lines will later be broken up with short, shallow strokes.



The lower part of the limb is shaped in the next installment.

To see more carvings, please visit the Heartwood Art site.

Follow My Carving - Gnarly Tree - Step 10

To celebrate Heartwood Art carvings being featured in upcoming issue of Woodcarving Illustrated the "Follow My Carving" series was created to give you a an insider’s view on how the art is made.

Now that the trunk has a little bit of shaping, the knot hole can be made.
















A flat gouge is held at an angle and the edges are defined. The center is scooped out with a micro gouge. Then, the middle area is flattened with the straight gouge and the process is repeated one or two more times. The result is a rather dimensional knot.

In the next installment the limbs are shaped.

To see more carvings, please visit the Heartwood Art site.