Water fowl carving

I thought I would share this carving of a local waterfowl, in abstract form. This particular waterfowl would use his colouring and extension of it's head pointing upwards to blend in with the reeds. I carved it from Tasmanian Blackwood. The base is a native timber Totara. I donated this carving to the community for them to raffle off.

Progress on fish hook carving

Although my progress is slow I am getting there. As you can see from the comparison there has been a reasonable amount of progress. I think the name of this particular piece of greenstone is Kakotea. Forgive me if I am wrong. I am trying to teach myself the differences of greenstone in New Zealand. The photo background on the right shows the carving sitting on a Brisbane river nodule.

Solo Exhibition

I'm happy to announce I'm having my first solo exhibition at the end of Feb running through to the 26th Mar.  I began creating artwork for the exhibition around Dec 2013 so have been pretty busy over the last two months.

New Carving

This is my latest carving. It took approx 10 hours to complete. It is deer antler that is very old and was buried for several years. The colour gives the illusion that it has been stained but I can say it has not. There could be something very special happening with this particular carving and I am waiting for a reply before I reveal anything on here. The leaf-side of the carving is the back and carving itself is titled Únity'. I hope you like my newest piece of art.

Two new bone carvings

Here are my latest bone carvings. One was based on the outer shape of a tear/raindrop so it's title is rain droplet. The other one I'm not sure what it looks like to others but it looks like a particular part of a male appendage. It is actually a contemporary designed fish hook (Hei Matau).

Pounamu(Greenstone)

It has been a long time since I have worked on this piece of Pounamu. I've spent the last few days shaping it. I believe I am not far off of going through the sanding process. Exciting stuff!!! This will also be my first Pounamu carving.

 I've included the early stage (right),which I have placed on here before to refresh your memory. As you can see I have made some changes above.

New work completed

Here are a few more Gecko designs. I've done my dash for these. I'm going to work on some new bone carvings over the next week and also a sculpture. There are some little light blurs happening on the top image created from the gloss surface the image was resting on for the photo.
 I'm house sitting for the next week and it looks like I might not have internet access for that week. Merry Xmas everybody.

Two carvings

These are my latest jewelry pieces. The pendant is from wood, I'm unsure what type but will hazard a guess and say limewood based on that it smelled like limes when I was working on it.  The pendant on the top right is the feminine side with it's soft curves and the pendant bottom left is the masculine side with it's crisp lines which means it is suited for both sexes.

The other is beef bone and the back side is greenstone. I will include a photo of the back at a later date. The etching of the Kowhai flower is called scrimshaw.

 I plait my own cord which is black waxed nylon cord

Pounamu (Greenstone)

This is the beginning of what I consider as my first greenstone carving. I say this because I've only ever added pieces of Greenstone to other carvings.  Greenstone (Pounamu) is found in the South Island of New Zealand. 
I intend to exclude part of the design before you as it looks too busy. I'm not all that good at knowing the different types of Greenstone there are so unfortunately am unsure what type this piece is. Maybe 'Kahurangi'. The approx size is 9cm H x 5.5cm W x 1cm D
  

I've also been working on the deer antler carving. The top of the granite base has some scratches so I need to find time to work on that. I'm working on the two pieces made of deer antler that will support the carving on it's base. After that it's a short step to completing the carving.
It's hard to see anything here  as the shine affects the photo and forgive all the rubbish around it but it gives you the general idea of the base.

Free Designs

Here are a few samples of some designs for jewelry. They can also be used for carvings in both stone and wood and even metal jewelry. You can see the full 99 images at darrengartist.wordpress.com
Please share some of your work taken from my designs just so I can see how others interpret them.