a carpenter - quotes and descriptions to inspire creative writing

The carpenter was an artist and a builder. There were times he was lifting lumber to make some vast structure, and other times he was absorbed into the finest of detail. He was akin to the chef that savours every drop, keen to use all that nature has given so graciously. With his heart and hands he honoured the tree that was and he gave its beauty a new life.

We are all born with marvellous talents as if they were tree seeds in need of water, of love and nurture, in liberty and support, somewhere to put down roots and belong. And in that way I see the carpenter as seed who grew wild and free, all the while being sculpted by a higher hand... as are we all when the fears and the constraints of the world fall away.

If I were to build a bench it would be several planks of wood crudely nailed together and when I was done it would look like a middle school project gone badly wrong. Barry, however, is different. When he sees the wood there's a light that dances in his eyes and he treats it with such love and reverence. He eyes the grain, feels it with his hands and then puts down his tool belt while he sketches a design, punches buttons on his calculator and adds measurements. Even when the bench is built and beautiful beyond anything I could hope to achieve he isn't satisfied. He begins to carve designs into the wood and sand it until it is as smooth as glass. Once it is stained it's truly a masterpiece, a bench you could sit on and wonder about the mysteries of the universe. Barry might look like an ice-age neanderthal, but he's a genius artist in my book and his work is always a thing of beauty.