Small Gallery

C. J. Lyttle: Birds
January 21, 2022 - February 17, 2022

Artist Reception will be held on Saturday January 22nd 2:00 -4:00.   The public is welcome!

 

The Bird, The Bird, The Bird is the Word – The Trashman (1963)

I live in Greenwich, NY.  I am lucky to have a small workshop.  I have not carved on the living room floor for quite sometime now.

I really do not know of many people who are not aware and interested in their natural surroundings.  Birders being one example.  I, for one, have to be engaged in doing something.

When I started carving a while ago, it was a challenge at first to create something that was pleasing to look at.  Good photos are my best source when I am in the workshop.  A good band saw is a necessity for me.  Carving knives and rasps are a personal choice.  It is important to end result to be worth the effort.  The main obstacle to overcome is having a conscious awareness of where all your fingers are … all the time.

Achieving realism or near realism in painting is a work in progress.  It doesn’t come naturally without good reference material.

Things like carving, painting, and music will put you in your own world and is great medicine for a long, happy life.

 

Cooper Hawk

Cooper Hawk

Six

Five

Four

Three

Two

About the Artist

      

“The love of creating something out of wood is a good therapeutic hobby.”

I was born in Cambridge NY in the Mary McClellan Hospital. I have lived my whole life in Greenwich, a village next to Cambridge. I went away to school, gave four years of my life to Uncle Sam in the U.S. Navy on a tin can, and raised a family. When I got out of the Navy, I worked with my father in the family oil business, eventually taking over in 1980. Recently I have found a very nice thoughtful bunch of individuals who make art and play contra dance music. It is a liberating, motivating part of my life. Can’t ask for much more.

My interest in carving started in the 1970s. I was given a shore bird for a birthday present. This bird was a good fake of an old-time decoy. Ornithology started to interest me, especially the artistic ones that really speak to you.  I thought about collecting decoys, but that didn’t work because I couldn’t afford the nice ones. That’s when I realized I had to learn the art of carving.

The primary wood I like to use is kiln-dried pine. To make bigger projects you need a band saw, chisels, carving knives, rasps, etc. There is no end to the literature available for anyone who likes to work with their hands. For people facing retirement, life can be for the birds if you don’t have a hobby. Birds, and carving and painting them, can give one an interest beyond Facebook and twittering the day away.

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