Basswood, milk paint, oil, pastel, acrylic.

13” x 3” and 10.5” x 3”
Mounted permanently on white oak, with recessed cleats for hanging.

“Symmetrical Tower” carvings started as an exercise I developed while writing my book on chip carving. The exercise is deceptively simple: Draw a centerline and a baseline, build a structure from the bottom up by eye, using only the carving knife—no other layout lines—trying to keep it as symmetrical as possible. These are, essentially, knife drawings. The purpose is to develop one’s inner senses of symmetry and proportion, deep hand/eye coordination, and to show that minimal technical constraints can, counterintuitively, lead to inventive, creative freedom.

Though not intentional, this pair of carvings ended up striking me as a matched pair. I sense a latent story here (which probably has something to do with all the science fiction I read.) An explorer returning—or escaping—home to tell about the giant eyeball tower they found? Or maybe touching down to visit an alien oracle for advice.