May 13 Wood carvings

Wednesday:  My niece (hi Shari!) requested a few photos of my father's wood carvings which I acquired years ago, rescued what had been designated for the "trash" over at my mom's! It's not that I desired these items so terribly; but they definitely should never be just tossed out--afterall, they represent the artist in my father, one of the things I loved about him. I tried to e-mail these photos to Terry, but (sigh) I can't figure out how on earth to do that as an "attachment" or otherwise! It's tough being a technical moron. 

Dad never quite finished this walking stick. You can see how he had only started painting the head. Plus, you will notice there is a crack in this poor duck's beak--not the duck's fault, nor my father's--just a little "rough" play by the grandchildren one too many times sent it crashing to the floor and ... off came the end of its beak. I didn't do a very good job re-affixing it.

 Of the four items, this duck is my favorite--probably because of the intricate carving in the stem. I still cannot figure out HOW he accomplished this design out of a hunk of wood.

 I've always wondered what other colors dad was going to paint on him. I actually prefer the natural wood look myself.

 This other walking stick is a horse ... not to be critical, but I think his head is too small--the nose part at least, and the neck is too fat--but I do like it because dad did a nice job carving the stick part and I like the colors he chose.

 I like everything about this little donkey--cartoonish as it is! I especially love the eyes, which of course, were not carved at all!

 And look at his cool tail!

 I'm pretty sure that this little dog was dad's first attempt at carving, according to what he told me. It's pretty cute actually especially when I consider that I couldn't carve a single thing  using a knife, except probably my fingers!

I used to have a tiny red cardinal that dad carved too, but it's tail fell off first and then it's beak--again, no fault of the carver, just too many little hands dropping it on hard wood floors. I finally threw it away.