Nobody Sees the Blue Carrot
It all started with the bonsai. I went to the Arboretum to take a mental health break and shoot some bonsai trees.
Since it was a nice day, instead of leaving straight away, I took a ride through the Arboretum. I'm so glad I did because I ended up stumbling upon this:
That guy in the background is Glenn Richardson, Chief Saw Sharpener at Saw Addict.
Glenn was commissioned to turn a tree that had to be cut down to make room for the new pavilion into an art piece.
Glenn can also carve your portrait out of wood in 17 minutes. This guy is insanely talented. But we'll discover later in the post that his talent is not limitless. He does have an Achilles...
When I saw what was going on here, I knew I had to capture it. How often do we get the opportunity to witness the creation of such an art piece? This piece will live at the Arboretum to be enjoyed for many years to come, but the window to enjoy its creation was only days long. So I knew I had to make time to capture it.
Day 2
Not day 2 for Glenn, day 2 for me. I don't actually know what day he started or what day he finished, but these are the images from my second day of shooting.
You'll notice the wood is a lot darker here than in the previous images. It's been flame-treated and whatever else was necessary to prepare it to be painted.
Remember that Achilles I mentioned? Turns out our man Glenn is a master woodworker, but he's also as colorblind as they come. Here he is as proud as can be, painting blue carrots! Somebody at the Arboretum is gonna get canned over this.
I did at least try to be my brother's keeper and ask if he realized the carrots are blue. He told me not to worry, he'd fix it later.
Doin' a little pouring...
Doin' a little stirring...
Doin' a little painting...
...with hot #*&@ing pink! Whoever hired this guy is so fired.
This is Gus, the Creative Director / Foreman of this project.
This is called a power nap. Don't judge. Workplace performance experts around the world tout the physical and cognitive benefits of a power nap during the workday.
As you can see, Gus is no office nerd. He likes to split his time between being in the office and being out in the field.
Hey now, who is this? Nothin' sexier than a hot chick with a wheelbarrow! WHAOOOOOOOOOAWWWW!!!
And she knows how to work it, too! Strike that pose, gorgeous. Work it, baby, WORK IT!!!
Day 3 - The Finished Piece
Looks like Gus finally stopped sleeping at the wheel and set Glenn straight on those colors. Actually, the psychedelic stuff was just primer. Glenn primed using the complementary color on the color wheel to make the color on each section have maximum pop.
This really is an impressive piece. I encourage you to go to the Arboretum to see it for yourself.
How many people do you know who can carve a preying mantis out of a tree stump using a chainsaw?
This was a longer post, but I hope you enjoyed it. I certainly had a great time watching a great artist at work. If you like Glenn's work, be sure to visit him at his website www.SawAddict.com and send him a message. I'm sure he'll appreciate hearing your thoughts.
I hope you enjoyed this post. It's part of a series I'm doing on small businesses. Be sure to check out the other posts from this series at the bottom of the page. If I'm doing my job well, you'll find these posts entertaining, but I also want to make sure you realize that these photo stories are all stories of entrepreneurship, both for the small business being showcased, as well as for me. Draw inspiration from them and, better still, go support these small businesses!
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