Pine Tree Studios of New England

A few years ago, the UU Church of Nashua started significant renovations.  A multi century oak in front of the church (that was becoming sick) was removed and some of the wood was milled.  Also during the renovation project, components of the ancient heating system were replaced with more modern, efficient components.  Unfortunately one of those components was a gloriously ornate heating grate. I was lucky enough to get some pieces of that oak and I decided I wanted to preserve the design of that grate that people walked across for literally a century or more.  In spite of my allergic reactions when I work with oak, I came up with a design for a clock.  This piece will be gifted to the church on it's 200th anniversary on September 27, 2026. 2026 oak, polychromed, polyurethane finish, mechanical components.  Installed at the UU Church of Nashua NH.

I'm still making articulated little dragons, and this design came from one of them I positioned on a decorative mushroom. The woodcut was in pine and it's hand painted with acrylics.

Late last night I finished this year's ornaments, Santa on a scroll representing The List.  Each August I work out a design and have the blanks cut by Labor Day so I can carve them during Dracut's Old Home Day event in September.  This year's event was interrupted by high winds and rain and we were sent home.  I didn't get as much done as I hoped and I ran a little bit behind. I was being hard on myself about it, but then I recall that the tradition of trading ornaments with the late M. Paul Ward was started one year when I ran behind and didn't have the ornaments finished until the 23rd. 2025 Eastern White Pine.  Polychromed and finished with rub-on polyurethane.

A colleague was talking with me about a smoked whiskey he had recently.  I did a little research and built two of them.  The apple wood I used was pretty tortured after sitting out front of my local lumberyard for a long time.  The piece was barely a board, more of a slab, grey and checked.  Who knew about the wonderful figure underneath.  For the colleague who suggested it, I built a kit with instructions, spare filters, and two types of chips (oak and apple)  2025 Apple wood

Inspired by the art of  Vivian Rosalee , I designed an articulated dragon.  The tail is segmented, the wings flap and the legs move. 2025 Basswood and brass wire, polychromed, polyurethane finish

  Krampus  is a figure in Alpine folklore that is sort of an anti-Santa Claus.   Melanie Christopher of  Still Dead Art  is a very talented illustrator and I have several of her prints in my personal collection.  I ran into her again vending at a holiday fair and after adding a few more of her prints to my collection I started thinking of a carving inspired by her illustration of Krampus. The morning I completed the carving, Krampus and I celebrated with a tasty holiday beer at  Navigation Brewing Checking the fit of the individual parts:  Exploded view of all the components after woodburning, painting, and finishing. 2024 Recycled Eastern White Pine, recycled leather.  Woodburned and polychromed with a polyurethane finish.

 I completed the Thanksgiving week which is the earliest completion date in recent memory.  I waited to post them until I started distributing them. Making the ornaments is the continuation of a decades old tradition for me of exchanging ornaments with the late M. Paul Ward.   2024 Recycled Eastern White Pine, polychromed.

 Saturday September 7, 2024 I spent the day, as I have for more than 20 years, at our town's annual event exhibiting my work and demonstrating woodcarving to my neighbors. Since the  New England Wood Carvers  have moved their monthly meetings closer I was able to refer a number of interested folks to their monthly meetings. In addition to getting a chance to visit with people from town, it's nice to have the whole day to make progress on this year's holiday ornaments.  While I did make progress, the organizers provided me with a better spot this year and I spent at least as much time talking about woodcarving as I did actually carving. The weather was as good as it has ever been and the crowds certainly reflected it.

 Split from a pine log, I left the subject's face rough and smoothed the background for an interesting contrast.   This piece will be on display at the  Art League of Lowell 's 2024 "Sculpture" show, beginning in July. 2024 pine

The completed carousel unicorn as displayed in the  Arts League of Lowell 's gallery for it's 2024 show "Fantasy and Allegory. 2024 Laminated Recycled Eastern White Pine sculpture, polychromed with polyurethane finish.  Pole Eastern White Pine sculpture, polychromed with polyurethane finish.  Cast iron base.

 The wood for this piece are pine boards that were broken by myself and my students as part of a taekwondo demonstration at Dracut's Old Home Day .   This piece will be on display at the  Art League of Lowell 's 2024 "Sculpture" show, beginning in July. 2024 Eastern White Pine, tinted with deck stain and finished with polyurethane.

An earlier birdhouse attracted many little birds to our property who subsequently gifted us with many blackberry bushes.  In gratitude for this summer treat, I came up with the idea for this whimsical, functional birdhouse in recycled pine.   My grandson Clark decided that I had make a sculpture of his uncle and my son Marc and so named it. Uncle Marc's full title is Big Uncle Little Marc, so as not to be confused with my younger brother, Little Uncle Big Mark. This piece will be on display at the  Art League of Lowell 's 2024 "Sculpture" show, beginning in July. 2024, recycled Eastern White Pine, burned and polychromed with a polyurethane finish.

 This piece of the last of the UFOs (Un-Finished Object) in the workshop that I started before the pandemic and put on hold for my latest book. The unicorn itself is made from recycled wood that had been previously broken during taekwondo tests and demonstrations. The pole is in two parts and the wood was sourced from a local lumber mill.  While turning the pole, I discovered that a lathe can be an artillery piece if used incorrectly enough.  A small miscalculation and the piece oscillated, tore itself free, and launched across the workshop into a wall.  Fortunately I was alone in the workshop and standing clear. The piece will be entered in the  Arts League of Lowell  2024 Fantasy and Allegory show. 2024.  Polychromed Eastern White Pine.  Polyurethane finish.  Leather tail. Cast iron base.

A piece I designed and created specifically for the show.  Based on a similar project from  Easy Carving Project for Kids , this version is much larger with deeper tones.  The top piece was a board I'd picked up at a New England Wood Carver's event in the early 2000s.  When I completed the application for the show I thought it was walnut, but the more I look at it, the more I think it's mahogany.  List of artists participating in the show: Panoramic photo of a portion of the gallery of the  Arts League of Lowell . 2024 Mahogany, jelutong, birch plywood, brass hardware.  Polychromed with acrylics and finished with hand rubbed polyurethane. In a private collection.

Inspired by a call for submissions to Arts League of Lowell 's upcoming (March-May 2024) "All Things Musical" show. The three notes are the "Ba, Ba, Baam" traditionally sung after the words "Sweet Caroline" in the chorus. 2024, birch plywood, walnut.  Polyurethane finish, natural color.

 My work entitled "Hexagonal Asymmetry" has been accepted for the Arts League of Lowell 's upcoming show entitled "Abstraction". Generally my works have been representative and the theme for this show was an interesting departure from that.  Within moments of learning of the theme I had settled on a basic design but it took weeks before I was content with the approach before I started making sketches. The show runs from January 12, 2024 to March 3, 2024 "Hexagonal Asymmetry" December 2023.  Laminated Butternut, polyurethane finish.

  My first work of 2024 is a sgian dubh with a deer antler handle.  The antler was acquired from a local farmer who harvests found animal bones and antlers for artists.   The blade is smaller than typical sgian dubh blades which is my personal preference. 2024.  Steel, brass, and deer antler.

 Today was the first snow of the season.  It's light and won't last the afternoon, but I still found time to go outside and listen to the sound of the flakes sliding down the pine needles. Boreas was a labor of love from the first pencil line until the last stroke of the paintbrush.  The wood is eastern white pine, rescued from a discard pile at a nearby lumberyard. It is painted in a wash of white acrylic, finished with a clear acrylic finish, then washed with a light blue acrylic, then another coat of finish.   Boreas, the god of the North Wind, is hanging near my desk and will be my companion for the season. Nov 2023.  Eastern White Pine, polychromed with acrylics.  Water based acrylic finish,

 This year's ornaments were finished a little earlier than usual.  I started the tradition of producing a limited run of ornaments after being inspired by the late M. Paul Ward. December 2023.  Eastern white pine, polychromed with acrylics and finished with water based finish.

 Paint is not my usual medium.  To be honest, this bit of butcher paper was used as a drop cloth for the painting I was doing on another sculpture.  I wiped my brush on the paper to remove some excess paint and I really liked the curve I created. I made another and kept at it for a bit and this was the result: Dec 2023.  Butcher paper and acrylic paint