Hot off the bench

[Steve Reed]

Here goes folks, as I said in another post it feels great to be carving again, finally. Here's the latest effort. This piece of basswood was pretty dark, but still carved well. Same base coat of BLO, yellow ocher, and raw sienna. Acrylic paints and deft semi-gloss. He'll get a coat of feed n wax tonight.
As always comments are welcome and happy carving!
Steve

[Brian T]

Very clean detail. I like the underpainting for the warmth that it provides.

[MsLibra]

Nice work, good looking carving

Shawna

[woodburner807]

Excellent work and nice detailed cuts. Should be able to do several more for Christmas.

[joepaulbutler]

I bet it feels good to be back carving, good job

[Soggy]

Good to see you back carving again. It's obvious from this ornament that the time away from the carving bench didn't change anything ;...
Wayne

[scotia carver]

Great carving Steve,keep them coming
Bruce

[sappy]

Really like the eyes, nice carving and painting!

[uvawyo]

Excellent ornie, Steve!

[Mike WNC]

Wow, thats nice. Can I ask how big it is? I'm thinking of trying a Santa ornament. Your paint job looks awesome. So you put BLO, tinted, on before you paint, am I reading that right?

[Dashriprock]

Great carving of old st Nick. Really like the detail and paint.

[Tinwood]

Really nice carving Steve. Beautiful job on the paint work as well.

Tinwood

[Claude]

Nice one, Steve - love the eyes!

Claude

[pallin]

Well Steve. we've all seen lots of Santa ornaments, but this time I stopped to analyze the details - the facial proportions, the nose, eyes, facial hair, hat. It's really well done in every detail, carving and painting. I especially liked how the beard followed the underlying facial contours. Phil

[Steve Reed]

Thanks every one for the kind words! Mike WNC, yes I always put a basecoat of BLO, Raw Sienna and Yellow Ocher, I think it gives the wood a look of the carvings I saw in Germany. After the entire carving is given the BLO, I do a quick wipe and start painting. The piece is 4" tall and 2 1/4" wide, carved "on the corner". Usually I thin the acrylics down and let the wood show through. In this case, the basswood was darker than usual, so the face only received thinned down paint for the blush on the cheeks, the nose and the mouth. The beard and moustache were done with thinned down "buttermilk" paint and white dry brush. Give it a try and see what works for you.
Phil, thanks, I've taken classes with a certain A list carver who insists that the proportion must be correct, so that's quite a complement!