In 1981, I started to do some whittling in my New York apartment to pass the time. I started with the familiar from my childhood: model airplanes. Fun, but limiting. The fuselage of an airplane is much like the shape of a dolphin, so I carved a dolphin. That opened a door and I walked through. I quickly became less interested in creating objects to scale and more interested in shaping things impressionistically and according to whimsy (of which I have more than my share).

I have no training in graphic arts. I do crude drawings just to get proportions and then I can execute them three dimensionally. A piece may also change from the original concept as I’m working on it due to the nature of the wood and its grain and how it feels in my hands.

In 2015, I made the first in a series of dragonflies to go over our mantelpiece. They are model airplanes with imagination and became a specialty. I have made 21 of them thus far.

While some of my creations are similar, I never duplicate pieces.

Yes, I do occasionally cut myself.