Paul, our wood carving brother, brought thought and ideas to our discussion of the prompt “garden.”

“When I think about garden and my carving, I go right to a Grinling Gibbons style of carving,” he said. “It’s intricate, multi-layered. Right away, I think of a vine and the leaves draped down.”

Norma seemed to understand. “A real celebration of vegetation,” she said. Exactly!

Not knowing all the rock stars of the carving world, I ran a quick Google search while Paul kept talking. I needed a visual. Here are examples of what I found:

(Photo Credit: Wikipedia)

(Photo Credit: flickriver)

Paul’s description of Gibbons’s work was this: “He didn’t shy away from any part. He’d figure out a way to get it done and shove it in there, kind of like flower arrangement. His point of view was that you were so limited by just one block of wood. With multiple pieces, you get so much variety from the different grains and types of wood.”

The Grinling Gibbons style isn’t Paul’s usual approach to a carving project. But thinking about and envisioning “garden” made him consider new possibilities.