The Whole Family in front of the Barn

Human figures inspired by Mike Shipley

Growing Family of Hill Folks

Master caricature carver Mike Shipley introduced me to the hill people, and I love them! Who doesn't long for a simpler life? And these folk epitomize it. My oldest grandson came to visit recently and we were talking about how kids used to play with carved wooden figures of people, animals, and little vehicles. My youngest grandson still does. He is thrilled to see the latest figure I have carved and gets the other figures interacting in a little make-believe drama. Kids used to employ their imaginations more in times past -- and that was good. And those handmade wooden figures will gain in value as time goes on. I saw some figures by the legendary Axel Petersson priced at over $2700! (Of course, the best career move for an artist is to die!)  Here are some of my recent hill folk carvings. the human characters and "Beau" are miniature versions of Mike Shipley designs. The bears were inspired by Gene Messer. The brown dog, "Chrysler," is my design.

"Benny"

"Odie"

Growing Family

"Beau"

Chrysler

Carving the Comics

Carving comic strip characters has always been appealing to carvers. Many versions of Coyote and Roadrunner, for example, have been carved, as well as Disney characters. One of my all-time favorite comic strips is Bob Thaves's Frank & Ernest (maybe because puns appeal to my linguistic interests!).

Anyway, I decided some time ago to carve a likeness of Frank and Ernest, inspired by a comic strip from April 2017.  My youngest grandson loves playing with them!

"Delmer's" Cousin

Here are my latest carvings. The hillbilly is based on Mike Shipley's "Delmer," but he is smaller, and of course, not up to Mike's quality -- but I'm working at it! The pig is from Christine Coffman's design.  (The spittoon came from a hobby store.)

Little Fisherman and Just a Bearded Guy

Here are a couple of new projects I just finished. The Fisherman is from a pattern by Harvey Refsal. The other guy just emerged out of my block of wood and knife!

FROGMAN

When my grandsons were younger, they liked to have Grandma read "Frog and Toad" books. Now they like to watch old Sea Hunt adventures of former Navy frogman Mike Nelson. So I was inspired to carve a Frogman of my own!

I'm wondering if I can insert a butterfly net in one hand???