Walnut progress

After a lengthy bout of lack of self motivation, today I picked up my walnut carving and began working on it again. Forgive the lighting. I left it a bit late to photograph. 
The hole in the front of the carving will hopefully have a piece of Jade/Nephrite inserted. The hole in the back is for natural light to shine through to enhance the variations in the greenstone, I hope. I still need to shape the semi-circles and add a v-groove design before I focus on sanding and staining.
The hole below looks off-center but I think that's more to do with the illusion created by the smaller hole along with the angle I took the photograph.

BACK

FRONT

Walnut carving

Here are a couple of photo's of my newest carving I'm working on. I'm unsure of a title yet but am aiming somewhere in the region of 'Hazardous Waste', Radioactive.....?. You get the general idea. 
I have found that this piece of wood (walnut) has a lovely grain to it. I think this is due to me previously using driftwood which doesn't show the grain as well due to being submerged in water for long periods.  I'm only about half way to finishing this piece so still a bit of work to do. The back (top below) was a challenge to add a curve to it but it's either beginners luck, which probably means i'll never be able to do it again, or I might be a natural (lol).

Busy cleaning

Today I spent the day cleaning and rearranging my unit. The bedroom, bathroom and kitchen have almost been finished so was able to move my bed back into the bedroom and start cleaning out the lounge. I boxed and placed stuff in preparation to store on shelves that have been built in my workshop.
With my nephews,6-11 years old, coming to stay on Friday I've planned to show them how to cut granite and polish it to a shine. I also thought I could give them a turn at using my foredom carving machine under strict supervision i.e. they can place their hand over mine!

 It feels good to be busy and have had several ideas that I can turn into sculptures. It's funny how sometimes one idea can lead to several other ideas rapidly. I look forward to placing some of the stages on here when I have some photo's of my progress.

I've been lazy this week. I did start working on a painting of an elephant in a 60's style, peace,love and that sort of thing, for a friend. With Good Friday beginning tomorrow I hope to do some work on some small pieces of stone for my nephews so they can turn them into necklaces. I think they're going to take after me and become artists in some form or another. 
I thought I would add this photo just for those who may not be interested in what I've written. I drew these on the computer using GIMP many years ago.

                                                                   Angel Wings

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.

The Devil wears Prada

I'm glad to say that this carving has reached it's completion. Although it ha been on g+ for a few days I have only just found time to place it on my blog. I took a tongue 'n'cheek approach to it's title. The Devil with his imperfections is shown with the imperfection in the carving, although I think it enhances it.

 

Break

I've been away spending time on myself for several days plus I had graduation on the 28th March. Spending most days doodling. Some tattoo concepts and logo concepts were the result. I'm looking forward to returning home and getting back into some carving.
We've had some really hot days. Something I can't complain about. Option would be cold days and I know what I prefer. I thought I would add this photo to show where I'm at with this as yet untitled artwork.