Relief in Wood ... "What the Moon Said"

    I finished up another relief that I will be hanging for the upcoming show season at Saltwater Artists Gallery. As I prowled through a myriad of long neglected boxes and containers of "mystery contents" in an effort to free up some needed room in my studio work space I  came across a raised wooden disc that I carved (as a "moon face") in preparation for a bronze sandcasting class a number of years ago. That discovery brought to mind an interesting piece of wood that I also had put aside "for a rainy day". It was comprised of a series 8 narrow strips of wood that had been glued together to form one plank, with two strips of yellowheart flanking 6 strips of padauk.

Shaped pine disc

Yellowheart & Padauk wood backboard

Arrangement with wooden door pulls

     I began by playing with possible placements of the "moon face", settling on having it at the top of the plank with left and right edges hanging about 3/4" over the edges of the plank and the top curve just barely over the top edge of the plank. In the space below the moon I then made an arrangement of 3 wooden door pulls in an arc. Before doing finishwork on each individual parts, I made narrow strip of padauk that I could put across the back of the plank to give me more depth to add  eyelet hangers as the plank itself was only about 1/4" thick. I also made a smaller piece of pad auk to put at the lower part of the back of the flank to make sure the piece would hang evenly. 
     After sanding all of the parts and coating them with liquid butchers wax (my new favorite finish!), I proceeded to assemble the piece.The final piece measures 8 1/2" in width, 12 3/4" tall, and 2" deep. I titled this piece "What the Moon  Said"...interpretations, as always,  are up to the viewer!

Back side

"What the Moon Said" - front side

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