The above carved cars are just three of the many carvings my brother, Willis Caywood, has done over the past few years. Each car and movable part is hand carved. Most who carve, order wheels for their items. Willis always makes his by hand. He uses nails for spokes on some wheels and wood for the cars that had wooden spokes. The cars have gear shifts, foot pedals and other ornaments made from things he finds around the house. Some of his carvings are patterned from pictures no larger than a postage stamp. He tries to make them to scale. He even makes a tuff pattern to the upholstered seats. Among other items that he carves, are things like a train, stage coach, wagon, or a pistol. I asked if he would carve a 1931 Ford Roadster for me since I was born that year. I have it sitting on my shelf where I can enjoy seeing it each day. I have always had an interest in molding clay. My favorite is making roses from clay. Lila and I have done some paintings years ago too, but not as articulate as our brother, Willis’s pictures. Willis also does a lot of wood crafts, some with his own designs. He has painted pictures for many years too. He has a slight different artist’s flair than our dad did. Yet, I see many similarities of daddy’s paintings. Willis can afford better paints than our dad could and that does make a difference. He has hand made many beautiful clocks too. He is one of the most patient people I have ever known. All three of us kids inherited some type of art from our parents. Willis did some carvings from soap when he was young. The first carving he did was of a squirrel from a bar of soap. It was for a school project when he was in the eighth grade in our little one room country school. My third grade class of four students, was to draw a picture of anything of our choice. I drew a picture of a kitten in a big wooden box. The art crafts were to be taken to Medford to be judged against other schools. Our school never received any awards and it was rumored that our teacher, Miss Edyth Leeper Childs did not get them to the judges in the time allotted for entry. I was so disappointed because I just knew Willis should get a ribbon or award with his beautiful squirrel. My drawing was very good too and could have won an award too. We three Caywood children have also passed our artistic talents down to our children and now our grandchildren are showing artistic traits as well. Maybe there will be another Rembrandt someday?

Any copyright remains with the artist.
There is no commercial use of it.





Created December 25, 2020

Updated: 15 June, 2021

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