I wanted to thank everyone for the compliments for my work. It seemed easier to do it here then to post on all three of the other posts.
I have spent the vast majority of my career bringing to life other people's ideas. Oh I got to do the design work and carved them the way I thought was best but there were always constraints with what they wanted, how it was supposed to look and how much work I could do because of budgets. It is kind of hard to fly with your wings clipped or weight tied to your feet.
Several years ago (the recession's beginnings) I found myself without work and in need of a new direction. I sat around wondering what to carve, sounds simple enough. Suddenly I realized that I could carve most anything I wanted given the time but was truly at a loss as to what I actually wanted to do, total loss there. I realized that there were no grandiose ideas, no dreams of fame or riches...I just wanted to be able to produce work fairly quickly, be free to carve what I wanted and most importantly have fun at it. It also began to dawn on me that I was getting older (mornings told me!) and there were things I wanted to do that there was never the opportunity to do. The idea of giving up the guaranteed money from commission work was a scary thought as well.
So my daughter is a Easter baby and did not have one of my carvings and there was the first rabbit. Man that was fun and fairly fast. Decided to try another which lead to two more and I realized that I was having fun. Then it hit me that I needed to carve what I was good at and what made me happy. I am pretty good at carving animals but I love carving rabbits (that is another story and philosophical theory). I figured that those two things would shine through and people would appreciate the efforts. Next thing you know I have 12 rabbit carvings in my shop so I took them to a gallery. To my amazement they started to sell and sell fast. SO I am off in a new direction only this time I can't say "well I know it could have been better but that is what the client wanted." This time it is all on me.
It is true that I have been carving for a long time. That does not mean that I am overly confident in my abilities. There is always someone better, always. Not every carving turns out as planned and not every carving turns out well (although hopefully you won't see those...ever!). These are my ideas, my designs, my carving and my finishes. So if a carving falls short it means I fell short. I post to see what people think, to see which carvings were a success and which were not. So I appreciate each and every comment that I receive. It motivates me, keeps my spirits up and tells me what I am doing right. To be even more honest, there have been times the money was not there and kind comments and the appreciation for my work was the only thing that kept me going
So thank you for your kind comments and for taking the time to post them.
Mark Strom
I have spent the vast majority of my career bringing to life other people's ideas. Oh I got to do the design work and carved them the way I thought was best but there were always constraints with what they wanted, how it was supposed to look and how much work I could do because of budgets. It is kind of hard to fly with your wings clipped or weight tied to your feet.
Several years ago (the recession's beginnings) I found myself without work and in need of a new direction. I sat around wondering what to carve, sounds simple enough. Suddenly I realized that I could carve most anything I wanted given the time but was truly at a loss as to what I actually wanted to do, total loss there. I realized that there were no grandiose ideas, no dreams of fame or riches...I just wanted to be able to produce work fairly quickly, be free to carve what I wanted and most importantly have fun at it. It also began to dawn on me that I was getting older (mornings told me!) and there were things I wanted to do that there was never the opportunity to do. The idea of giving up the guaranteed money from commission work was a scary thought as well.
So my daughter is a Easter baby and did not have one of my carvings and there was the first rabbit. Man that was fun and fairly fast. Decided to try another which lead to two more and I realized that I was having fun. Then it hit me that I needed to carve what I was good at and what made me happy. I am pretty good at carving animals but I love carving rabbits (that is another story and philosophical theory). I figured that those two things would shine through and people would appreciate the efforts. Next thing you know I have 12 rabbit carvings in my shop so I took them to a gallery. To my amazement they started to sell and sell fast. SO I am off in a new direction only this time I can't say "well I know it could have been better but that is what the client wanted." This time it is all on me.
It is true that I have been carving for a long time. That does not mean that I am overly confident in my abilities. There is always someone better, always. Not every carving turns out as planned and not every carving turns out well (although hopefully you won't see those...ever!). These are my ideas, my designs, my carving and my finishes. So if a carving falls short it means I fell short. I post to see what people think, to see which carvings were a success and which were not. So I appreciate each and every comment that I receive. It motivates me, keeps my spirits up and tells me what I am doing right. To be even more honest, there have been times the money was not there and kind comments and the appreciation for my work was the only thing that kept me going
So thank you for your kind comments and for taking the time to post them.
Mark Strom
