A good effort...

Meter Maids A Comin'
A. Filetti - 2015

  Well I hope everyone has had a good summer,  the weather here in the Northeast has been a bit weird the entire year, however the summer has been sunny with neither too little or too much precipitation.  This allowed me and the clan to carve on many occasions in the out of doors,  which is great considering that for 1/3 of the year we spend in overcast hibernation.
  As per normal I spent my time getting ready to compete in the annual Caricature Carvers of America competition...something I look forward to each year.  At the start of the summer I already had two submissions ready for travel and was working on a Mitch Cartledge roughout (Doc).  This brought me to my most recent conundrum...how to present the carving.
  It has been my experience that in the past carvings without a base do not fair well in competition an not wanting a simple pre-finished base I had an idea.  I decided to place him in a scene.  I checked the rules and the rules did not explicitly forbid placing a caricature carving in a scene and entering the carving in the roughout class.  Well of course the carving did not place in this years competition, which leaves me to ponder if the scene was the reason for it not placing.  Only the judges will know for sure.
  Having known about the competition concern going in, I just could not help myself.  The roughout was a fun one and the scene tells a story about a man seeing the meter maid coming, the parking meter has expired and all of his coins have fallen out of a hole in his jacket pocket and are resting comfortably in the storm drain.  The design was fun from the get-go, and getting the composition to gel was a challenge I sorely needed.  The carving is painted in Acrylics over a thinned coat of boiled linseed oil.  It was sealed with Deft and a coat of BriWax was applied.  Overall a fun piece that will bring a smile to my face for years to come.
  So the next time you get that itch to be creative, don't let a set of competition rules dictate your creativity but rather be as creative as you want and let the competition chips fall where they may.  I know this was the case for this carving and I absolutely have no regrets.
  Our summer days are waning,  grab a knife and a block of wood and go sit a spell under a shade tree...your soul will be better for it!

Whittling away at life's problems one shrimp at a time...

Bart holding court

  Well its been a busy first half of summer here in Western NY,  but I am happy to say that it also did include some carving and better yet it was with a cast of caricatures.
Each spring Mr. Bart Wilson, and his better half Miss Donna, host a weekend gathering of carvers where we all get to sit back and carve without a care in the world (i.e. just turn on the old black and white westerns and get to carvin').  There truly is nothing better.
  Carvers from Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee joined me there.  It truly was like a family gathering as a menagerie of hounds provided first rate comfort and entertainment.  Bart and Miss Donna are first rate in hosting and we were treated to a wonderful Low Country Boil on Saturday night...awesome!
  Now you might be asking what was carved that weekend...well it really was not of great import as we were with our carving family,  having the occasional adult beverage and regaling each other with carving tales.
  At the end we were surrounded with chips, had the opportunity to see a large carving collection,  bellies were full, and stresses relieved.  That is what carving with family is like and it is one of the best attributes of caricature carvers...fellowship.
  A hearty thank you goes out to Bart and Donna for their hospitality, they were magnificent and I hope to return for future gatherings.
  This is how carving should be...and I wish you the same.  It's a beautiful summer day, get out and carve (and carve with your family if you can)!!