Something connects wood carving to the ocean. I picture the sailors of older seas, the soldiers, slaves, pirates, or explorers whittling whales and octopods and seashells out of driftwood. Learning with the roll of the ship underfoot, learning new skills to avoid going mad with isolation.
Turns out, conveniently, that aquatic life lends itself to wood sculpture because of the soft lines, the streamlined silhouettes. The seahorse was a fun experiment with deep U gouges for the body, and the rotary tool sanding disk was useful in shaping the head and snout. It turned out more cartoony than anatomically correct, and I’m pretty sure it’s not even called a snout, which seems to indicate I have a lot to learn about seahorses when I revisit this animal in my carving.
Yann Rousselot 
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