Christmas elf

I recently worked on a carving from a Mark Gargac video. He has very nice videos, clear scenes easy to follow. I have seen many videos where the lighting is off and the color of the wood sometimes blurs which makes it hard to see what the carver is talking about or how they are carving. I know I have sharpened my skills studying from those who have carved longer and more consistently than I and am always looking to see who I can learn from next. I have found that when I take the time to study a carvers video I often learn more from these than magazine articles.

So the elf, still needs painting but overall am happy with the outcome. I changed the design a bit from his just to make it more my design and his technique. He in this video uses a lot of stop cuts, probably for those who are limited in tools. I am not always consistent with stop cuts, an area I need improvement. So here he is the Christmas elf.

 I plan on painting a portion of him but will leave some wood unpainted as I have become fond of the effect it gives to my carvings. I will paint the beard and the hat and maybe add a small dash of color to the face but more on this later.

Carpe Diem carving