Last August,
I blogged about my driftwood sculpture experience(s). Today, Saturday, I
officially joined the Northwest Driftwood Artists (NWDA) organization at its January
meeting. Not only that, but I was the last to arrive (late damn it), and when
the drawing was held for the monthly prize, my number was drawn and I received
a $40.00 tool for use on large pieces of driftwood. I also took advantage of the tool
sale NWDA was holding and added to my tool collection.
One of the
members who has been with NWDA from practically the beginning and now serves as
the historian gave a talk about the early history. I was amazed to learn how
far back…the 1960s…NWDA originated. I believe there has been a number of names
for the organization over the years. There was a notebook that covered some of
the early times and apparently there are three additional notebooks. I was able
to leaf through it, but what I really wanted to do was sit down and read page
by page, all the newspaper articles about the events of those years. I also
wished the photos of the driftwood sculptures had all been in color.
It’s exciting
to be in a room with other individuals who are pursuing this craft. Listening
to these people who have so many years’ experiences under their belts made me
want to return home and dedicate the remainder of my day to working on Percy
the Porpoise. It also made me eager to go out and look for additional pieces of
driftwood, or any wood really for that matter as illustrated by one of the
historian’s tales.
She and her family had property
on a river up near Mt. Pilchuck. They took a drive up part of the mountain to an
area was being cleared for some purpose. There was a huge pile of wood the
tractor had shoved out of the cleared space. She thought one piece in
particular looked interesting, climbed up the pile, gave it a kick to see if it
would move and then sent it tumbling down to the road. It took her husband and
teenage son to load it into the station wagon…it weighed almost seventy pounds.
We weren’t told
how long it took for her to complete her sculpture. When finished, it weighed
only forty-eight pounds, was four feet wide and resembled a coiled serpent. It
was the tree burls that made the coils. The tree trunk below the burls was sawn
off to provide the base. She didn’t have a photo with her, but is going to
bring one next month. I would love to find a big piece of wood to turn into
something wonderful like her sculpture.
When I blogged about my new endeavor last August I intended to include a photo of Ott the Otter but failed to do so, but am including it here.
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I encourage
you, dear reader, to visit northwestdriftwoodartists.org. There are terrific
photos of the submissions to the 2023 exhibit.
Now, I must
close this post because I can hear Percy calling my name…he wants to be sanded
until he feels as smooth as if he were a real porpoise.