The two pieces are the results of collaboration between Keith Holt & I. Keith did the turning and carving which is his signature work, as well as the photography. I did the sandtexturing and coloring of the wood which I have coined as Oakcobolo.
Keiths words:
Andy and I wanted to see how the wonderful sandblasting and coloring would add to the meditation face series. His ability accentuate the beauty of the medullary rays is amazing. I emailed him to cut the blanks and two days later the postal person had the blanks in my hands. Two months later I still havent completed the pieces. Sorry Andy. I finally finished them last week and sent them to Andy to do his magic. Three days later he sent me an email saying I finished the pieces. It was a pleasure and honor to work with Andy on these pieces.
They are turned on three axes and then carved. The back of the piece is the only evidence that it has been on the lathe. If you would like to see how it was done they recorded my demo at Hartford this year. I think the DVDs are for sale on the AAW website. The pieces stand 6.25 inches high and 3.75 inches wide and about 3 inches deep. The species is Oakcobolo, sandblasted and stained.
My words:
It was an honor and a pleasure to work on Keith Holt's carvings. His work is truly beautiful and I am a proud owner of one of his cat mask carvings. I have seen his impressive demonstrations several times and I really wanted to add one of his meditation face pieces to my collection.
A few months ago I was doing extensive experimentation with different wood geometries and grain orientations and concluded that just about every shape I could find looked good sandblasted and dyed. So, I thought what about a carved shape that has flowing lines. Then it occurred to me that one of Keith's meditation faces would look great in quarter-sawn Oakcobolo. So I made the request and he was brave enough to let me give it a go.
So please tell us what you think of our collaboration.
