Another day, another paddle.
Finishing the touch-up on Double Paddle. One more handle to carve.
This is one of only a few notes relating to the double- handled paddle. I was working simultaneously on the first and this second paddle.
The wood for the second piece was chosen because I felt like carving arbutus wood and at the time a new road was being brushed out to make way for a new housing development. There were numerous collateral damage arbutus trees to choose from. As I carved “Double-Handled Paddle” I recognized the double handle reminded me of two rib bones much like the rib bones and rib cage of a whale. I was reminded once more of the similarity when months later I came across blue whale rib bones leaning against a wall at an up-coast whale museum. At that same museum the skull of a beaked whale reminded me of the shape of the blade of the same Double-Handled Paddle. It was surprising to me to find whale essence in this second paddle as it was not at all intended when I began the piece.
Carved double paddle
Whale skull and rib bones