Cherry, 36”l x 18”h x 9”d, oil/varnish finish
I made this small bench for a client who had his own client who loves squirrels to the point where she buys large sacks of acorns to feed them. Good for the oak tree population. The bench is so small because it goes in a spot in a second floor hallway in a townhouse in Philadelphia. It’s not really a bench, I’ve been told, but just a spot to temporarily set things down on.
This was my first carved animal since the lion head reliefs I did decades ago. Not much room on the bench to do more than the squirrel and a few branches, which is appropriate since more would make the surface look too busy. A little minimalism there, I guess. I’ve carved flowers into a cherry mantle breast and knew it to be a satisfying wood to carve with its nice tight grain, unlike the unforgiving coarse grain of oak.
The problem with carving something like a squirrel is the image we have of them as jittery and nervous, which conflicts with the static representation in wood. How to suggest movement? I wasn’t sure, and I wasn’t sure I had the skill or the time—given that I had to make a profit on the bench—even if I knew. I figured that showing as much of the squirrel’s muscles, its arms and legs and hands, as I could would be the best way to go about it. I did not realize until later and the bench was out of the shop that a sharper representation of the eye would have helped, since so much of a squirrel’s movements are those familiar jerks of its head and its quick glances. Next time.
