I have decided to break this new adventure up into two parts… which will be running side-by-side… or top-by-bottom, since that is how my blog works… So I will be posting about the tiki that, hopefully will end up looking exactly like me… and about the new children’s book… in more-or-less alternating posts

They will be called:

The me tiki… part ?…

and:

I Like You… part ?… (because that is going to be the title of my adorable new self-illustrated book for little kids).

As you may be able to tell from the picture above, my ‘me tiki’ project has already run into trouble. The first piece of wood I picked was rotted. The second had termites… which came from the house, not the other way around, just so you know.

OOOh… look… that one I managed to get the bark off all in one piece instead of having to pry it off… unfortunately, that one is pine… which is really hard… and is also too small for my huge crack squirrel-packed cranium. The thing is… and this is a thing you should bear in mind during this series… I don’t do things like normal people. I am all art-side -of-the-brain. So when I decided to carve tikis, I didn’t research it, and get the right tools. I don’t even get the right wood. I just borrow wood wherever I find it. Then it sits around while I get distracted by other artsy stuff.

Anyway, I finally found a good piece… which hopefully won’t be too hard…

Then I marked the corners of the paper so I can put it back in the right place as I go… and started making nail holes around my nose. Now, I have never carved a realistic face before, but I do know my nose is what sticks out the farthest from my face, so I need to leave that part and remove some wood. The nail sticking in my snout is the ‘high’ point, so to speak.

When I carve tikis, I usually just fake it, and make the nose pretty flat… oh, go on, search for tikis in my search bar thing… you know you want to.

And there you have it, a big piece of wood with a big nose on it. If I was smart, I would print a picture of my head taken from the side… or take measurements… or something… but I’m not.

Okay, see you later.