Featured Carvings
The carvings shown here are a selection of what I’ve done recently and have available. To inquire about purchase please email me at woodwork@davidwalbert.com, and see my full gallery of carvings, where I also have a description of my technique. Or see me in person — I always have more carvings available than I can keep track of here!
Note of Longing — 13x9 inches — $225
Inspired by a page of an “illuminated” hymnal by Conrad Beissel published by the Ephrata community in Pennsylvania, 1754. The music shown accompanies the first lines of the Biblical Song of Songs: “O that he would kiss me with the kisses of his mouth.” I wrote about the process of developing this work over at Walbert’s Compendium.
Die Blummegans — 15x9 inches — $250
The Blummegans, or “Flower Goose,” flies over the world each year bringing spring to the earth. (What?!? Don’t tell me you haven’t heard the legend of the Blummegans! Well, sit down here by the fire, and I’ll tell you…)
Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben — 16x7 inches — $225
Three finches sing a chorale from J. S. Bach’s cantata of that name (BWV 147), which translates to “Heart and Mouth and Deed and Life.” The tune is popularly known now as “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” — why is a long story. The birds are not interested, so I won’t tell it here.
Goldfinch Trinity — 11x9 inches — $200
Three goldfinches in a late-summer meadow of sunflowers (or maybe black-eyed susans). If you have never seriously considered planting your yard as a wildflower meadow, I recommend it; you get scenes like this for free.
Lovebirds No. 10 — 11x9 inches — $200
A classic pair of “love birds” in the tradition of Pennsylvania Dutch folk art, with a pair of untraditionally realistic finches encircled by a swirling wreath of flowers.
Something Left Unsaid — 14x7 inches — $200
You really never know what birds are thinking. It’s all too easy when drawing these simplified forms for carving to give them eyes or postures that are a little too suggestive of a kind of cartoon humanity—something I have to struggle against, especially when I do, after all, want them to evoke something. What are these two towhees up to? I have no idea. I do know that it’s early spring: the flowers are trout lilies, among the earliest of wildflowers. Beyond that, you can imagine what you like.
The Wren in Winter (top) — 8x6 inches — $100
Cardinal Virtue (bottom) — 8x6 inches — $100
Two birds on their own for the winter, amid evergreens and berries. The wren sings very loudly about something, as wrens do—the music notes are an attempt to capture his song. The cardinal seems more chill about the situation. At least I gave them something to eat.
Hello, I Must Be Going! — 17x7 inches — $250
A study of a finch taking flight. In the second frame he looks like he’s going en pointe like a ballet dancer, doesn’t he? I enjoyed carving this one—not only the wings but the feet. The title is from the Marx Brothers’ Animal Crackers.
Leaving Home — 12x7 inches — $175
In trying to reduce flying geese to essential forms I could carve I drew inspiration from Japanese sumi-e painting. As for the trees, what’s interesting about them is their bones, not the mass of leaves that covers them—especially when I can’t use color or shading. The shapes I used here evoke leaves both individually and in mass, and contrast with the flowing lines of the geese.
The Green Bull — 7x7 inches — $115
A bovine rendition of a traditional “green man,” designed for the Bull City.