Try New Things

Here are a few new things I've done recently:

This is a tiny little face carved into a larger piece.

I've never carved a bird before and this hummingbird made me very nervous. I meant for it to be very simple, and it is, but I wish I had the courage to carve a few more details in. (Of course, I was working from memory and from a very poor, blown-up photocopy of a drawing of a bird from a bird identification book. Under the circumstances, I think it came out very well.)

I've also never carved a mermaid before, not with any detail. This is a progress photo. You can see she's not complete; I had yet to add her scales.

For me, the lesson has been in stepping away from the known to try something new (even when it takes a lot of time to do something new) even though I am in a rush to get some Christmas presents finished.

Try new things. Even though time is short, try new things.