Carve December 2017: Some of my Favorites! (part 2: animals)

Here are a few of my Carve December favorites featuring animals. Click on any image to make it larger and read the artist’s caption!

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Why Animals?

Animals are such an interesting subject for artists because they’re both specific and symbolic at the same time. A dog is a dog — with weight, fur, bone structure, and personality — but it’s also loyalty, companionship, protection, memory. A bird is anatomy and motion, but it’s also freedom, fragility, migration, spirit.

When we make art about animals, we’re often exploring something human through a slightly safer lens. It’s a way to talk about emotion, power, vulnerability, or instinct without it feeling quite so exposed.

In addition, animals are also just visually fascinating. The patterns of feathers, the structure of a hoof, the tilt of a head — they push us to really look. Like portraits of people, they invite both careful observation and expressive interpretation. That combination — technical challenge plus emotional resonance — is pretty irresistible for artists.

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I’m Feeling Inspired

Some things these animal blocks and prints are inspiring me to do:

• Leave a lot of rubber behind.
• Carve a scene inside of a circle.
• Add just a touch of color to an image.
• Put whimsical pattern inside of an animal.
• Carve from a photo.
• Put a single print in a mat and then framing and hanging it on the wall!
• Make animal ornaments.
• Make up my own animal/creatures.  Reality is just holding me back.  😉

What are you feeling inspired to do? Let me know in the comments and thanks for stopping by!

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Related Links:

• Carve December 2017: Some of my Favorites! (part 1: miscellaneous)
• Carve December 2017: Some of my Favorites! (part 3: nature)
• Carve December 2017: Some of my Favorites! (part 4: patterns)
• Carve December 2017: Some of my Favorites! (part 5: people and people parts)