The Black Forest

Tree Sculptures like you've never seen before!

I would love to say that this is a portfolio of all my sculptures but unfortunately I was the victim of a very mischievous dog several years ago and I lost a large amount of my hard-copy pictures and the disc that had all my digital photos on it. I salvaged what I could, what you see here are some of the sold sculptures, the sculptures that I still possess, projects underway and a little bit of how they are made.

You could say they are "green trees" for the bases are made from pieces of fire wood, the sculptures are made from scavenged wire, I use plain white glue and of course they are Trees but they are members of "The Black Forest".

I started this in 1979 when my Grandmother gave me an art project from the "National Geographic Store" that was a tiny little wire tree kit, when done it was about 4 inches tall.

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My first Tree Sculpture - 1979 - and yes I do still have it.

Thinking it was pretty neat and wanting a bigger one. With none available I decided to make my own.

The long and arduous part was figuring out how to make a bigger version stay together, which is one secret I will not share with just anyone. They are not held together with any kind of glue, fasteners or straps. Glue is used only to mount the tree to the base.

I started selling them when my house was getting over-run by Trees. They take up a lot of room when you have several dozen.

"Over the years the second best part of life has been being able to sit under many different trees getting their view on the world, the first is sharing that seat with family." ~ Jay Watts

The 4 sets of images below are the trees that I will not part with. That is a 12" Metal Ruler on the table in most of the images.

Willow with Buck (2011) ~ NOT FOR SALE ~ Very Sorry, but it is my Wifes and she says "NO".

That little one - "the first tree" was given to me in 1979 on our very first Christmas together.

It took me until 2011 to finnally do one just for her.

willow with buck

Willow with Moss (1993)

willow with moss

Birch on a Wedge (1994)

birch on a wedge

Oak on a Knot (1993)

oak on a knot

A commissioned work for the Estate of Andre Norton in 2015.

Mounted on it is one of Andre Norton's favorite Dragons.

Notice that it has torn up and burned the place, marking it's "Dragon's Nest".

dragons nest

And now ~ some of the other ones.

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Done in 1984 ~ Gloss Black ~ Just about 10" tall.

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Done in 1984 ~ Gloss Black.

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Done in 1985 ~ Gloss Black.

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Done in 1988 ~ Gloss Black ~ This is one of tallest I ever Did, over 18".

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Done in 1990 ~ Switched to Semi Gloss Black.

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Done in 1993 ~ Semi Gloss Black.

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Done in 2002 ~ This was one of my Favorites.

Recently acquired some real nice base pieces,

material

What the wire looks like.

Below are a couple of pictures of another sculpture underway.

This one will be titled "Stuck" ~ the tiewraps around it are just to hold it in place while working. Once it is sculpted into a tree it will get painted and then mounted to the base. This is the first time I have built a base out of two pieces of wood. The dog and dog-house are antique lead figurines that belonged to my Dad when he was a child.

I've just started teaching my grandson how to make them, so who know what he will do with them. For his first one he wants a "Heart Tree" from the show "Game of Thrones". So I guess his are going to be white.

As you can see there is a reason that I call my work The Black Forest,

Company logo

Company Logo

They are available in any color you may wish as long as it is Black.

I hope you have enjoyed ~ Lotsawatts