MIKE'S REDWOOD FENCE POST CARVINGS:

Mike carves about 70 "standard"  figures from redwood fencepost.  Almost all of the carvings are done from a single piece of wood.  This limits the initial size of the figures to approximately 4"x4" and a length or height of up to eight feet.  Although,from a practical point of view, the maximum length or height would be about 18" to 20".

Since Mike & Margaret sell most of their work to visitors to San Francisco, CA, the fence post carvings are designed to be of a size easily transportable in a backpack or suitcase.  One of  Mike's most popular carvings is the historic San Francisco Cable Car:

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                                                 29-2 SAN FRANCISCO CABLE CAR

 All of these pieces are painted with acrylic paint and finished  with at least 4 coats of spar  varnish for a durable and lusterous finish. Another popular San Francisco item is the Victorian House with a tiny cable car:

      22-18 SAN FRANCISCO VICTORIAN HOUSE

This piece uses the natural cross section of the post as the base of the carving.  Other San Francisco pieces regularly carved by Mike include the Golden Gate Bridge, the San Francisco trolley, and a tug boat.  In the old days it is possible that someone looking almost like this could have lived in San Francisco:

                                                                                                         67-1 SHERLOCK HOLMES

Someone like Mr. Holmes may have lived in one of the old victorians.  This had to be composed of two pieces because the face and the body needed the wood grain in two different directions.  This was one of the many people statues that Mike has created.  He has also done just a series of heads for cane handles.

Many of Mike's most popular fence post carvings are the ones of animals. Here is one of his african animal series:

                                          

                                           23-12 RHINO

The rhino, like almost all of the other animal figures, including the geraffe and elephant, has a hand braided nylon tail.All of the carvings are finished with four coats of spar varnish and are signed and numbered by the artist.

We also have real and fantasy birds and water fowl.

One of Mike's favorite birds is the "Bluebird of Happiness"  He  says that he is really happy whenever he sells one.  He also believes that they bring great happiness to every purchaser of one!  However, there is no guarantee of this.



22-22 BLUEBIRD OF HAPPINESS

The kingfisher is an actual bird of which there are about 80 different species, we are told. Mike's carving of the bird is a sort of whimsical combination of them.  It is what he considers as his college professor or mad genius representative of the avian species.

                                                                                                         
                                                                                                       23-6 KINGFISHER

He reminds one of a lecturer, deep in thought, pacing the floor. We also have parrots and other birds done in a similar manner. Mike's waterfowl are smaller than life size replicas painted to show the actual colors of the birds.  He does eight waterfowl replicas.  An example of one follows:


27-14 MANDARIN DUCK [male]

One of Mike's favorite carved animal figures is the little girl piglet:
                                  
                                                                   
                                                                   24-1 GIRL PIGLET
She is cute, almost perfectly round, and is always looking at you through her half-lidded eyes. Her eye makeup matches her dancing shoes.

Different carved figures are exhibited for your delight [and purchase, if you would like to at different times depinding on our inventory and exhibition space available.  If you have not seen all of our information and would like to see or know more, please return to our home and select another page for viewing or contact our e-mail address:

                                          sfstreetartist@yahoo.com