I love what I do!! For quite a few years now I have been carving lovespoons professionally and I can say without any doubt whatsoever, it is the best job I've ever had! Every morning when I glance at the news, I see death, destruction, hate, animosity, greed and corruption oozing from every corner of the globe, yet in my little world I am completely focussed on creating expressions of love and profound caring for clients who love one another. Every day, my problems are centred on telling stories of love and passion through carved wood. When my clients are thinking about their lovespoons, they forget about stock market fluctuations, religious wars or any of the other maladies which daily batter them and their fellow global citizens. They enjoy an opportunity to think beautiful and romantic thoughts while we create an artwork which radiates all that is good about them and their loved ones. Sure, the money is nothing to write home about (the expression 'Carvers are starvers' didn't come out of thin air) but the satisfaction and the sense of doing something really, really worthwhile in an increasingly negative world makes my career completely worth it!! Even disastrous breaks and accidents while carving don't seem so bad when I'm carving a lovespoon!
One of the great 'side-effects' of my career as a lovespoon carver has been the opportunity to keep a centuries old tradition alive in North America. This is the one of the main reasons I am so delighted to carve the annual lovespoon for the West Coast Eisteddfod. Some traditions are worth keeping and I think that lovespoon carving and the cultural traditions represented by the Eisteddfod are plum examples of those. However, neither lovespoon carving or staging Eisteddfods are easy to do in our modern, tech oriented society without having a lot of support. In my case, I am subject to all the vagaries of any business, but in the case of the Eisteddfod, it can only survive and grow with active participation. Whether you enter some of the competitions, attend the events, donate some funds or simply tell your friends, family and acquaintances about it, I urge you to help keep the Eisteddfod going.
I have donated my Eisteddfod lovespoon for you to win. All you have to do is send in a dollar or two (although more is always gladly received!!) and you will be entered for the draw prize. Each dollar you donate equals one opportunity to win (so if you are Warren Buffet, you could be in with a pretty good chance)!!
So once again, here is a look at the spoon and I hope it will inspire you to hit the donate button!!
