Here on the west coast of BC, fall signals more time indoors to work on crafts. When he's not creating new beaded jewelry designs in front of a football or hockey game, Dave is creating new driftwood tables. The Mammoth table you saw in the rough is finished and gone to a good home. These shots show both its length and the heavy twisted wood that makes its head.
Since then he's finished a plant holder and a small end table shown here.Working with what nature has created means that Dave's driftwood art is one of a kind. From the moment we discover it on a beach and see its potential through the long and time consuming process of bringing it to its full beauty, there is anticipation of what the next creation reveals.
As I work on this post he is sequestered in the porch cleaning up a large Arbutus branch system(about 6ft.with arms reaching out about 4ft) that is covered in lumps and bumps. When it's sprayed black with gold flecks and mounted on a sturdy burl, it will be a unique West Coast Christmas tree.
This one never drops it needles and can be stored outdoors the rest of the year. Watch for the final picture of this extravagant imaginative "tree."
The creation of new tables goes on with the latest one being "It's A Dog's Life." With ideas running out what to call each one, Dave looked at one of the arms on this one and saw the dogs face so here it is. A simple, but beautiful piece that holds a bowl with shell candles in it. ...cost $220.
The Mammoth Table sold to a lady who fell in love with it in its unfinished state. Here 's Dave working on it at our fall fair as the Mammoth beauty continues its journey to completion.
Another spectacular piece looks like petals of wood that rival the beauty of the flower petals displayed with it. As it sits unfinished "Petal Power" would sell for $40, finished $80.
Even the top of a root system can become a beautiful centerpiece. After many hours of cleaning and sanding the arms of the driftwood Dave produced this Center of Attention with a handmade glass bowl on it. Sitting solidly on a piece of slate, this is going to grace someones table exquisitely. We took it to Art in the Park here in Powell River(www.discoverpowellriver.com) , a day for artists to show off their wares and it sold as soon as it was set on the table.
Dave spent the rest of the day working on the Mammoth Table and plans on having it done in time for the Xmas craft fairs. Thomas Eakins says of artists "The Big artist keeps an eye on nature and steals her tools." We certainly are doing that as we enhance what would have been left on the beaches to rot or be used for fire wood.
...the saga of Dave and his driftwood to be continued.......
Our "Curly Burl" table sold the first time we took it to a fair. After sitting on our display table all day, it found new owners as we were packing up. A lady came up, talked to us about it, went away to think about it and came back one minute later having fallen in love with it. So another picture in the album has "gone to a good home" written across it.
Even as I put the stickers on the pictures they brought back memories as to where we were when each one sold. Our driftwood has sold all across Canada and back. Guess you could say that little bits of Powell River are gracing homes everywhere.
Now we have a whole collection of new pieces to work on from little burls, to knotted Arbutus branches, to roots and this mammoth piece Dave hauled off the beach across from our cabin. You can see how big it is standing in front of Dave. He literally lifted it end over end down the beach to sit across the bow of our 12' boat. Then had to strong arm it up over the boulders on our beach and up the bank to the cabin....and he wonders why his back is sore?
We will put 2 small root systems under it so it lays flat as a table, plane the top , clean it up and oil it to create another work of art.This one will take much longer to complete. Presently he is working on a smaller piece to sit on a table top with a glass bowl on it....will post a picture of it when its done.
And so the pleasure of finding these treasures continues, along with the fun and work of producing incredible pieces of useful art forms.
