Levels in Relief Wood Carving--mikes.pdf

by Lora S. Irish ofClassic Carving Patterns

www.CarvingPatterns.com

“Lighthouse Cove” by Lora S. Irish

Relief wood carvings are worked on one face of a wood board or blank and made to be

viewed from one side of the wood only. To create the three dimensional effect of the carving

the elements of the design are dropped down into the wood surface according to where they

lie in relationship to the other elements in the pattern. How shallow or how deep an element

is dropped into the wood effects how close or far from the viewer that element lies to the rest

of the design.

I approach any relief carving by closely examining the pattern and grouping the elements in

the pattern into four distinct levels of elements – foreground, midground, background and

sky level. Once the elements in a pattern have been grouped according to their depth in the

pattern each group of elements that fall at the same depth is called a level. A carving depth

can be assigned to each level and then used to guide your earliest carving steps.

This is not as confusing as it sounds. Your eye already understands depth, perspective and

distance when looking at a landscape or scene. Whether you know the terms or not you

already know that some things are closer to you physically and other things are very far

away. Some items are in front on other items but behind a third item. Translating that

visual knowledge into working with your patterns takes only a few minutes of work.

Some basic terms

Element: one item, unit or individual part of the design– a tree, a silo, the barn.

Level: a grouping of elements that all fall at the same depth in a pattern

Foreground: the area of the pattern that is closest to the front

Midground: the area of the pattern that has elements in front and behind it

Background: the area of the pattern that lies behind all other elements

Sky level: the deepest point of the carving that surrounds or contains the carving

Rough out: the first stage of wood carving that drops the wood to a particular depth in the

wood’s thickness

Free patterns:

California Sun Bathing by L. S. Irish– pages 18 through 23

Lighthouse Cove by L. S. Irish– page 24 and 26

Stone Barn by L. S. Irish– pages 27 through 28

Articles Courtesy of Classic Carving Patterns, Lora S. Irish

CarvingPatterns.com WoodCarvingPatterns.com

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Lighthouse Cove by L. S. Irish

This seascape drawing, Lighthouse Cove, is a classic landscape styled design for wood

carving. It contains a few primary elements – a lighthouse, three sections of snow fence, a

sail boat in the inlet, a small cluster of houses, a dock and clouds in the sky.

Viewing this design you know that the lighthouse is nearest to you, in front of the inlet, sail

boat and harbor house. The cluster if harbor houses sit behind the lighthouse and sail boat at

the far side of the inlet. The sail boat is obviously between the lighthouse and the harbor.

The most distance elements in this pattern are the clouds.

Lighthouse Cove Line Art Pattern

When I begin any relief carving project I start by printing at least three copies of my line art

pattern. One copy will be used to determine where each of my levels fall in the pattern and

what elements each of those levels contain. The second copy is used to do the first simple

outline tracing to the carving wood. When I have rough out carved the levels into the wood

blank I go to my third copy of the pattern and cut the pattern along the outside edges of my

levels to make small, easily retraced pattern pieces.

Northwest Adventure Pattern

Working with Levels

in Wood Carving

by L. S. Irish

Enjoy our free online tutorial on Working in

Levels which includes a free pattern –

Northwest Adventure

Focus Point

What in this pattern is most important –what is this pattern about?

That’s my first question for any level work. Every design has one focus point, one element

or group of elements that seems to me to be more important than anything else in the pattern.

For this pattern I believe that the lighthouse is the strongest element in the design. Focus

points can change according to who is looking at a design. You may feel that the sail boat is

more important or may want the harbor houses be what your viewer sees first.

In choosing a focus point I am looking for one element from which to base the depth of all

others elements in the pattern. It becomes my starting position. I could easily start the level

work for this pattern using the sail boat, harbor houses or even the snow fence.

I have marked the lighthouse in a soft pink color –if I were working with my paper pattern I

would use a soft pink colored pencil and lightly color in the lighthouse.

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