Meet Ally

A couple years ago I wrote about my brother-in-law Bill who is very talented with pieces of wood and carving implements not to mention sandpaper and paint. Bill has continued to hone his skills and he has developed into quite the artist.

I heard from my mother that Bill was working on an alligator. He had shown it to her when the carving was done but before he painted it. When I was in Olympia on Monday he brought over the finished product to show me. He had spent 10 hours on painting alone. If you click on the pictures below you can see them up close. He did the tiny speckled effect with a toothpick. The white paint is luminescent so it glows in the dark.

I think it's fun to examine Bill's artwork closely because there are always details that you wouldn't expect. The alligator's eyes are pretty bloodshot, and if you were to look closely at the teeth you would see they have a little blood on them too. I'm not sure why the pupils are 9's, but I'm sure there is some significance there. He thought about carving toes but that would have made them fragile so he thought it better to paint on the toes.

Bill tells me he has several more projects in progress including a 6 foot tall dragon. For each piece he can tell you where he found the piece of wood and what kind it is. It is amazing to me that someone could look at a boring piece of stump or branch and see something of beauty waiting to be revealed.

You have quite the talent, Bill. Keep up the great work!