07/18/2026
The value of experimentation!
Our artwork is a life long journey of learning. We look at reference photos, read books, take classes and yet many people are hesitant to trust their instinct and create their own path.
My fist advise is to create artwork that pleases you rather than catering to ideas from other people.
As an example, consider carving competitions. On the top level, the artist has to make everything (the bird or animal, branches, rocks, leaves......). That is a daunting task that can be frustrating.
So take small steps to ramping up to that level.
Find a piece of drift wood or an fallen branch that has some character. Often they are dull, weather warn, and somewhat monochromatic. You can use these little treasures to experiment with. You can modify them to accentuate some features and you can paint them. Those two steps offer an excellent way to build confidence without too much trouble.
The one picture shows both raw naturally aged drift wood or character wood found in the woods. The other picture is an example of the same kind of wood that has been sealed and painted, slightly modified and had some moss added. Moss texture is difficult to carve from wood. I've played around with that process and was not really satisfied with the results. That was because I had not rally studied the various textures before.
So I did some experimentation. I found real moss, let it dry, and then epoxied it to the drift wood. I then saturated it with Deft Sanding Sealer. After it fully dried, I studied the moss colors and painted it with oil paints. It's certainly not something to enter into a competition with, but great for non competition artwork.
The painting process will help you study the textures of the wood that you can later copy on a carved piece of wood. I recommend starting out by only focusing on the driftwood without any thought about the bird or animal you would place on the wood. That will help you to explore all t
