Tulips

Hi All,
Sorry that it's been so long since my last post but this damned cold weather just won't go away. I know it's winter and cold weather is expected but we should have a had at least one or two decent days this year. I guess I've spent about three hours in the workshop since Christmas and I'll show you the results in a minute.

You may be wondering how I'm spending my free time while I'm not turning, carving or burning wood. Well the answer is, I've been concentrating on drawing and painting. I'm getting old now and unable to stand at the lathe all day so I need a hobby which allows me to be seated. My thinking is that over the next few years I will do less turning and more artwork.

Anyhow, let me show you a couple of the arty things I've done while taking advantage of the cold weather. Here's a couple of tulips that I did recently and I'm quite pleased with them.

The tulips are very colourful but sometimes it is nice just to do a sketch using graphite and pencil. Here's a couple of fritillaries done using that medium.

Right, going back to the three hours that I managed in the workshop, here's what I've got to show for it.
I'm having a go at carving a small wooden carp that is about 2.5 inches long.
Here it is after cutting it out on my new scroll saw.

After that I managed to carve the main shape and sand it down a bit. I have also marked out the space for the eye.

For those of you who don't recognise the shape, it is going to be a mirror carp and I' hopefully going to do the scales with a gilding past. Not sure how that will work out and I'm not sure about the eyes either. Should I buy some, try making some out of resin or just paint them in? I'm not sure myself yet so please watch this space to find out.

I've got lots of projects waiting to be tackled as soon as the weather warms up, I'll keep my fingers crossed, perhaps it will be next week.