My Husband - Worthy in Wood

Its been a while since I took some time on this blog to feature the work of my husband, Paul.  Now, Paul, as anybody who knows him will tell ya, is a great guy.  He's easy going, hard working and cute!  Along with all those attributes, he's also VERY talented!  Twenty years ago, when I started quilting (by getting a quilting book by Nancy Martin by mistake in the mail!) , he started woodworking.  It all began with him seeing a Shopsmith demo at the mall - Only my pseudo cheap thrifty husband would go to the mall and come back with $1000+ worth of woodworking equipment when he doesn't even woodwork.  Still, obviously, its captured his interest.

For the last 14 years, he's made an annual trip to the Marc Adams School of Woodworking where he's been learning a ton of cool stuff.  This year, he took a class of how to incorporate concrete and stone into his woodworking.  At first I'm quite sure I said - Why???  I mean, who thought concrete and stone seemed warm enough to be used in furniture??  Well, he unveiled his latest creation today and now I totally get it.  The different materials together are super interesting and this venture has a lot of possibilities.

 

Now this is a departure from the work he has been doing.  For the last year or so, he was all involved in sculptural pieces - playing with curves and making them function as furniture.  

From there, he took the curves and played with a new finishing process which involved some kind of strange tea he ordered (you know he talked about this incessantly all summer - but  to tell you the truth - I stop listening at tea stain - LOL).   I'm thinking this is my favorite piece out of all the ones he's ever made - the finish feels like silk!

You can see how one idea has led into another and his voice as an artist is emerging.  Now, I love creating in fiber since what other art can you snuggle under??  That said, Paul's work sells so well when displayed since its functional art.  I mean  - who doesn't like to use their art plus have it look beautiful?  Hmmmmm - speaking of that - I told him he better start selling some of  his pieces.  Its one thing to have a 14 room victorian but its another to take it as a personal mission to fill up every space with your creations!  So we'll see if he takes the hint and gets some of this stuff into galleries!

You can see more of his work here and he's started a process blog here.  (Warning:  don't go to the blog unless you are really interested in woodworking - he hasn't quite got the hang of how to edit his process yet!)