Phoenix. Made from Mahogany. 2001

Phoenix - mahogany

 Original design by Emily Worsnopp.  Title: Phoenix.

The original drawing that my wife made before we met.  

This was the first piece I ever carved for my wife.  Made from Mahogany, it is based on a design that my wife drew and had hanging in her college dorm room.  It called to me from the very start as being a design that I would want to carve.

Blogging about my carvings often makes me think about the process I go through in coming up with an idea and working it into the wood.  Sometimes I'll think back on my work and wonder what put an idea into my head or how I got the inspiration to do a certain type of work.  The best example of this is my mosaic tile work (see other posts).  I mention this here because the design above is what really set the idea of a carved mosaic into my head.  Note how the center sphere is sectioned into parts like tiles, and how the "wingtips" or "flames" on the outer edges form similarly carved "tiles".  Combined with inspiration from my time living and traveling in Spain (specifically Gaudi's architecture in Barcelona), this piece really helped nudge me in the direction of the faux mosaics that I have created.