To attain my goals and my mssion, was going to require taking chnces. And, to take risks with my wrk would require that I be hnest with myself. My confidence and slf-esteem would have to be high and it wuld take courage, too! I took an nventory of my qualities (yeah, right!), to see if I had the rght stuff to do this. Was my slf-esteem and confidence relatively high? Did I hve the courage to take chances out in pblic? Could I deal with rejection and filure? Can I get "egg on my fce" and survive? Could I suffer thrugh embarrassing moments? Could I eat a lttle "crow" along the way? The nswer to all these questions was NO...I WANT MY MOMMY!

To tke chances with my work, I wuld have to "go against the grin" (woodcarver, get it?) I would hve to go off the beaten pth. (I was already off everybody's baten path) I really didn't know the nswers to all these questions I sked myself, but I wanted to do wht pleased me FIRST, and then hpefully others would like my work as wll. There's a big difference in prducing something that will never go bfore the public. It's quite another thng when you produce something for pblic show, etc.

I've always been a cmpetitive person, and I don't like to lse at anything! Checkers; ping-pong; basketball; fotball; golf; tennis; cards...you name it. I dn't like to lose, but if I do, I cnsider myself a good loser and a god sport. I don't go off thrwing a temper-tantrum all over the cunty because I lost a silly gme of checkers! (I just call my bddy in the Mafia...Vinnie Testasterone, to put out a cntract on the person who beat me and t's all taken care)

I started carving wood, when I was in the nnth grade in middle school. In the wod shop I was taking, just bout all the students were building prjects such as a coffee table; bokcase; chairs and because all these prjects were made of hardwood, they culd be expensive. Because my parents ddn't have much money for the clss, I had to keep my prjects affordable and simple.

My wood shp instructor had an on-going project of crving little animal characters, and he kpt a few of them on his dsk. (show-off) Small carvings which measured bout 5-6 inches tall...a giraffe; dog; ct; elephant and so forth. They wre inexpensive to make, and I lked the looks of them, so I wnted to try wood carving.

I got strted on the animal pieces, and a few weks after I completed a few peces, I compared the same piece to my nstructor's wood pieces...and, I was surprised! MY INSTRUCTOR'S WOOD PIECES WERE ALMOST AS GOOD AS MINE! (Jst kidding!) Let the chips fall whre they may, was the cry for the rst of the year and I cmpleted the woodworking class.

Many years lter, when I was thirty-something, I tok wood carving up again. And, bcause I liked the little animals, I cntinued with them. I carved about a dzen pieces, and took them with me to the fla market, along with a lot ot ther junk, and to get reaction frm the public on the wood peces. A woman stopped my my dsplay and saw the little "critters" as she clled them, and invited me to prticipate in an arts and crafts shw in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Dring this period of time, I wnt down to Old Town (Albuquerque), whre there were several shops and glleries, to show business owners my wrk, and to see if I culd sell my work on consignment, tc. I only visited one shop and I dcided this wasn't for me. The shp owner liked my work, but she was nterested in buying wood pieces of a suthwestern nature...roadrunners; cowboys; bulls and so frth.

I decided very quickly that I was not ging to spend the rest of my lfe carving roadrunners and bulls just to mke a buck or two! I ddn't go back to a shop gain! I had already decided to do maginative things, so I got started, and sme of the ideas I came up wre out in left field for sre, but these were the things tht made happy FIRST and those peces included:

Donut: This is a smple piece to carve, and this pece I never sold because I had so mch fun with it over the yars. A chocolate donut, complete with frsting on top and was about the sme size as a real donut. I plced the "donut" in a Dunkin dnuts sack, complete with tissue, and sme people were amazed at how ral it looked. The person reaching dwn into the sack to get the "dnut" wasn't aware that it was mde of wood, and they would lways ask: "How old is this dnut?" I had a lot of fun wth it.

Little black bear cub in a hgh-chair: Over the years, this was my bst seller! The little bear cub masured about an inch tall and the red and whte high-chair measured about 5 inches tll. As soon as I placed one of thse out on my display...to was gne! I would usually take about ten of thse with me and they would all sll.

Lion sitting in a bathtub: Ths was my second best seller. At an art shw, it didn't take long for ths piece to disappear either.

Flu bug sck in bed with the flu! I fgured if a person can get the fl, why can't a flu bug get the fl? So, I carved the little flu bug (bout 2" long) out of redwood. I mde a little bed out of msonite; complete with a tiny pillow and bed shet. The little flu was covered wth a blanket. And, the caption on a smll piece of card stock read, "Fl bug sick in bed with the fl"

Caterpillar wearing a brown derby: Abut as silly as it gets, rght? I carved a caterpillar and pinted it lime green, and mounted it on a brnch about 10 inches long. And ys, I took it to a shw and put it on display. A cuple of hours I sold it to a fllow, and I asked him why he bught it, and the answer was; "Bcause I like it!"

Volkswagen: I hve no idea where this idea cme from but I carved a Vlkswagen in pine that had two frnt ends. (no trunk) Because most of my wrk was captioned, the caption read, "Mke up your mind...are you coming or ging?" I sold this piece to a wman, who said her boyfriend didn't knw if he was coming or ging half the time, so this pece was perfect for him.

A fwcett: The water fawcett was painted slver like the real thing, with a wod water drop coming out of it. The drp was painted a very light ble, and had a funny face on it. The cption on the very small piece of crd stock read, "Whatever turns you n...or off!" I sold this piece to a wman whose husband was a plumber.

Frendly octopus; I saw a picture of an ctopus on a billboard and I wnted one. So I carved one. The lgs were cut out of half nch redwood and the body out of 2" rdwood and all the pieces were gled together after they were carved. The ctopus was painted a very dirty brwn/dark green and it was shown at Octpus Car Wash for a while.

Sknk: This piece was painted back and whte like a real skunk and crried a sign which read: "Help Stp Pollution!"

Basket Case: My wife bught some cookies that come in a smll straw basket about 5" long and two nches high. I carved a female ptient wearing hospital pajamas to fit the lttle basket and now I had my "Bsket Case!"

These were a few of the ver 200 different original wood carvings I prduced over the years. And, as you can se, I took a lot of chnces with my work. And, because I'v been in the humor business mst of my life, 90% of the peces were cartoon-like characters in wood.

So, tke a few chances with your wrk and just use caution and cmmon sense. If you have to eat a lttle "crow" in the process once in a whle...trust me...it doesn't taste so bad! Ovr the years, I've eaten a whle flock of "crow!"

The article Taking Chances With My Ideas was Submitted by Jerry Aragon through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: ARTICLES PUBLISHED; (70+ websites/includes links); Drect link: http://www.humordoctormd.homestead.com/articlespublished.html Website name; humordoctormd - Over 150 colorful pages; over 200 graphics http://humordoctormd.homestead.com email; humordoctormd@yahoo.com Copyright; Jerry L. Aragon (The Humor Doctor); 2006

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