I have been carving life-size songbirds such as those appearing here since about 1980. Of course the earliest examples were not as nice as my current work. By the early 1990's I considered my "whittled" style and simple coloring technique more or less "mature" (an opinion shared by one of my best customers) and so it has not changed much since then.

I never had any formal lessons in the use of carving tools. However, during my boyhood in the 1950's my father gave me excellent instruction in the use of a variety of general woodworking tools in his basement workshop. It was then that I began making toys and other things out of scrap wood. One favorite was solid-wooden model airplanes using the three-view drawings from my father's aviation library. For me this was a more affordable option than commercial balsa wood kits or the molded plastic models common today.

As a Boy Scout I carved many of the novelty projects (like the neckerchief slide) published each month in Boy's Life Magazine. Coincidentally, it was while serving as scoutmaster of a troop of boys at a week-long summer encampment that I decided to pass some idle time carving a songbird which resembled a warbler. A year or so later, while participating in a woodcarving show, a number of people wanted very much to purchase that warbler. Near the end of that afternoon I finally sold the carving, and it was soon after, that I decided I ought to carve some more birds.

Prior to concentrating on bird carving I tried some other avenues of artistic expression. One was a Chess Set of Mahogany with pieces suggesting the Medieval period. Another was name boards for several boats in the harbor at Michigan City, Indiana where I lived at that time. Recently I completed a 30-inch bas-relief of a running horse. But it is the songbirds that pleased people so much that I finally decided to make them my chosen artform. Since 2008 I have taught a one-day bird carving class at the annual Woodlander's Gathering at Shake Rag Alley in Mineral Point, WI.

Should you decide to order one of my birds, I suggest one caution; provide some security against cats. A customer once reported back that their cat attacked their new carving!