I’m more adept with light and shadow than with color. I wonder, in fact, if I haven’t carved away more paint than I’ve put on. But I can be stubborn perseverant.
The top photo shows a bowl shortly after I had re-carved the exterior surfaces. Below, is the same bowl as it had been.
I carved it mainly as a sample bowl to take to classes, but as it turned out, I didn’t like the carving pattern on the end surfaces, and it was a pain to carve — an unnatural fit for the tools and flow of the piece. I didn’t like the paint job either. There was too little contrast with the poplar wood and I hadn’t thinned the artist oils enough.
Worst of all, it occupied a shelf in my workshop. Once in awhile it would call to me, “Psst… hey, you… dummy. Thanks a lot.” I felt like a barber who’d given a guy a bad haircut then ended up sitting behind him at the theater. But hair grows back and wood doesn’t. I tried to cover things up with different (red) paint, but it was about as effective as that Ronco hair paint stuff:
Still, maybe there was enough wood there to set things right. One day, after one too many taunts, I seized the bowl from the shelf and gleefully went to work with a gouge. As blonde curls of wood fell to the shop floor, a fresh surface and a new pattern emerged. The redemption was complete except for a few bits of color that had been pulled more deeply into the end grain.
Undaunted, I mixed up a red color with some artist oils, adding a little flax oil and citrus thinner. I wanted the consistency, in this case, of a strong wood stain that would allow the grain to read through, but still have an intense color.
That’s better. I like the flow of the flutes, and the gouge wants to make this pattern — it’s a natural fit.
I like it. The paint is back in the drawer for awhile, and the bowl has stopped calling me names.
David Fisher, Carving Explorations 
It wasn’t nearly as bad as you imagined, and now is much better than you imagine. Beautiful!
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Thanks Bob. The voices are exaggerated in my head!
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Great creative evolution, Dave! And a good example of “listening to your gouge”…
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Beautiful! And fully redeemed 🙂
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The hoop patterns absolutely kill me. There’s no telling where you might go with it!
Masterful and ever beautiful!
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funny…now I think I hear it calling my name!
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love the pattern–
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It’s called “letting the artist in you out” ! Wonderful work.
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The bowl looks good to me I may try carving one
Most peopgale just think of lathes for bowls
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Nice save! It’s always worth it to go bold when painting. I try to channel some Jögge Sundqvist or Magnus Sundelin when hitting the paints.
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So glad to hear that this type of thing happens to such an artists as you. I am having to do work overs all the time and I’m still not happy with the results. I keep telling myself more practice and I’ll get better. The real problem is I am artisticly challenged.
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Dave,
I really like the hairpin or hoop patterns in the first picture. I like that they are still evident with the paint. Both are terrific….Guess I just favor the wood.
Thanks for the inspiration! I’ll keep practicing 👍
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Looks great, Dave! “The babes are back!”
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Ha! Amazing that that infomercial was serious.
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