AMHERST, N.S. – Amherst wood carver Ian McLeod dove into the deep waters of the New Brunswick Wood Carving Competition and Sale, and surfaced with several top prizes, including the prestigious J.D. Irving, $1,500 Purchase Award.
“I’ve been laboring in obscurity here in my basement for 14 years, basically, and this was my first foray out into the carving public, and it was nice to be recognized,” said McLeod. “It’s worth a lot to be recognized by people who do what you do.”
Five Purchase Awards were up for grabs at the 14th annual competition in Saint Andrews, N.B., and McLeod won two of them; the J.D. Irving, $1,500 Purchase Award for his moose carving, and the $300 Purchase Award for his Santa carving, which was purchased by the Picket Fence Motel in Saint Andrews, N.B.
Sixty-three carvers from throughout Canada and the U.S. entered the competition, and McLeod’s six carvings went up against 235 other wood carvings.
Besides the purchase awards, McLeod also received the People’s Choice Award for his moose carving, first place ribbons in the Intermediate Division for his moose carving, Indian carving and Santa carving, second place for his pharaoh carving and a second Santa carving, and third place for his Viking carving.
“The awards were nice but, it was just the fact I went there and represented my province and my town and did quite well. That felt really good,” said McLeod.
It was in 2004, when McLeod first picked up chisel and wood. He did so after taking early retirement at the age of 52 after 33 years of service at the phone company.
“I was looking around for something to do and I got a set of cheap wood carving chisels for Christmas. The first thing I did was lay this finger open for about 11 stitches, and I thought, ‘I kind of like this,’” he said with a laugh.
Asked if he was surprised to learn he could carve wood, McLeod says, “Oh god yes. Jesus boy, when I went to school I hated wood-working.”
He had no idea he was artistic.
“To draw, I’m not really good at that, but give me a piece of wood and a knife and I’ll carve something really nice,” said McLeod. “I don’t know why, I don’t know where it comes from, but the more I do it the better I get at it.”
Most of his carving ideas come straight out of his head, but that wasn’t the case with the moose carving.
“When I did the moose, I had a ton of reference photos.”
The moose took much longer to complete than his other pieces of work.
“From the time I thought about it, got the pictures out, glued the wood up, cut it all out, glued the pieces all together. From that to the last stroke of paint was 150 to 200 hours,” said McLeod. “That’s not counting the time thinking about it when I was relaxing.”
McLeod doesn’t rush the process.
“You have to take your time. You can’t hurry,” said McLeod. “Well, you can hurry but you’re not going to be happy with what you’ve done.”
People often say that sleeping on an idea helps to make it clear. McLeod takes that to heart.
“If I’m working on a piece, if I lay down, I might set it on the dresser,” said McLeod. “I’m lying there, and I can look at it and say, ‘you know, when you pick that up again here’s what you should do.’”
Macleod has upgraded his tools over the years, recently purchasing high-end, handmade chisels from France.
He also uses hand-held, micro-grinders that turn at speeds up to 40,000 rpm.
“These are called extreme bits,” said McLeod, while holding one up. “There’s a warning on the package that says, ‘It will aggressively remove wood and flesh.’”
McLeod has had his mishaps with the grinders.
“You got this thing fired up at 40,000 rpm, and you’re grinding, and the bit will catch and roll around and catch your thumb or your hand,” said McLeod. “When you hit your flesh with that it doesn’t cut it, it just rips it off. You look and say, ‘Oh my God, I’m bleeding.’”
Why not wear gloves?
“When you use this thing, you don’t wear gloves. If you’re wearing a glove and this thing gets tangled up, your done boy. It will break your hand.”
Minor mishaps haven’t kept McLeod from carving.
“To me it’s a really good hobby. I get to spend time down in my basement out of the way, and I make a couple bucks at it,” said McLeod. “I’d be eating baloney if I had to rely on my hobby for income, but I do it because I enjoy it, and a lot of people like what I do, so that’s the best part.”
He likes creating custom works, such as a rooster and pig he was commissioned to carve.
“One lady came up to me and said, ‘could you carve me a rooster standing on top of an egg smoking a cigarette?’ I said, “It sounds alright to me,’” said McLeod. “Another one was a pig in a track suit with a cone of ice cream in one hand and a book in the other.”
McLeod attended this year’s competition in Saint Andrews after he’d met fellow wood carvers at a Christmas arts and crafts show at the Moncton Coliseum.
“They said, ‘Jeez, you should think about coming to St. Andrews. You’re pretty good,’” said McLeod. “I wanted to meet other wood carvers and I wondered how I would do, so I took these six pieces and away I went.”
After his success at this year’s competition, he says he would like to go back next year. The theme for next year’s competition is ‘Things in the Dark.’
“That could be a drunk standing outside a tavern,” said McLeod. “But Saint Andrews is a seaside town, right beside the Bay of Fundy, so there’s a couple nautical ideas I’ve been running through my head the last little while.”
Whatever he ends up doing, there is little doubt the competition inspired him to expand his horizons.
“I saw so many different varieties of carving in Saint Andrews, I said to myself that I should try some of the things they’re doing,” said McLeod. “Stretch yourself a little bit and get out of your comfort zone, as it were, and try some different things.”
