More Art by Daniel Leen

Note: These pieces are not for sale.
Click each image to open a larger version in a new window.

Carving of a frog bowl (yew)

I worked on this little yew bowl off and on for over a year.

Halibut bowl

This piece was carved from a 2” slab of teak.

Tooth sign

This was carved from an exotic mahogany; I spend most of my time using a wood rasp to get the shape, but a lot of sanding was involved. I did not do the painting and gold leaf.

Hatch cover

Carved from teak, on my 32’ sailboat, from a sea wolf design on a silver bracelet illustrated by Boas in Primitive Art.

Chess set

This is from a piece of oak from the Midwest, and is the product of about 4 months of coffee breaks and lunch breaks while working for Boeing Aircraft in 1966. The top of the knights I copied from a set my grandfather carved, but the rest of the designs are my own.

Salish comb design

This piece is carved from teak, and was intended as a hotplate, having stubby legs set into the base.

Sauna floor

This was a “fresco” I painted into freshly troweled concrete, intended to resist poured water on the floor of a sauna, note drain in navel.

Painted rock

This was a nearly spherical rock I found down by Mt. Rainier, painted with enamels as I imagine the earth from space.

Jizo sama

The “children’s god” is a Buddhist saint found all over Japan. I found this naturally shaped stone slab in SW Oregon and eventually made it into a small shrine in my yard.

Obsidian knife

The handle is from a cow rib found while doing archaeological survey in E Oregon, the blade is flaked volcanic glass from Glass Butte, also in E Oregon.

Sauna

The sea monster on the gable was inspired by drawings of Hal Foster in Prince Valiant comic strips, illustrations of lock plates on Hudson’s Bay Company trade muskets, and Coast Salish carvings. It is 3/8” plate steel, and a small pipe enables the “dragon” to spout water into a cast iron bathtub.

Two fin carving

The original carvings for one of my jewelry designs, in Asian argillite.

Sway way comb

This is the museum piece that my carving is based on.

Antler carving

A small westcoast style sea wolf based on stuff found at Ozette that I carved for a friend.

Yew bowl

A small bowl with a basically 2D design wrapped around it; I gave this one to Bill Holm.

Two bears

a small carving inspired by a comb from Nootka Sound made before 1778.

Beaver bowl

Another small yew bowl and other trinkets I carved in the early ‘80s. The bowl represents a beaver.

Starry flounder

Carved from an antler button shaped like a flounder.

Mosaic

an early attempt to do a “landscape”, train tracks at the bottom, neighborhood landmarks, plants, birds, the West Seattle skyline, the Olympic Mountains, a jet in the sky, all from found objects. This is part of a sidewalk.

Raven tool handle

a trowel handle carved in the early ‘80s.

Swaywey comb

this is based on the museum piece described above.

Pipes

These are some old briar pipes I carved NW coast (a frog and hawk) and folk art designs on.

Cave canem

A mosaic made from scrap countertop, in Latin, “beware of the dog”.

Pipe with sailboat

Close-ups of pipe described above, I carved the stem from a piece of antler.

Hat

A canvas sailing hat that I adorned with a frog design while living aboard my sailboat.

Pipe

Another close-up of a briar pipe.

Pipe

An example of attempting to carve NW coast art while knowing nothing about its structure; I carved this with as much enthusiasm as ignorance in the mid ‘70s.

Pipe

Another close-up of a briar pipe

Pipe

This one carved in the early 70s

Pumpkin

Carved as a version of “she who watches”, the famous petroglyph near The Dalles