Wildlife Carvings from California Artist Greg Pezzoni at Skipjack

Carved and painted yellowfin tuna by Greg Pezzoni.

Raised in Santa Barbara, on California's southern coastline until his early teens. Greg was exposed early to both fresh and salt water angling. Half day boats in the Santa Barbara channel and full day excursions to the city's famous wharf introduced him to numerous species, such as bonita, halibut, sheep head, sharks, rock fish and kelp dwellers of all kinds. A small lake within walking distance instilled his passion for largemouth bass fishing, while supplying mixed bags of bluegill, crappie and catfish. With back packing trips to the nearby Santa Ynez and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges, Greg then added California's numerous trout species (including the coveted golden trout, California's state fish) to his fishing "have caught" list. Relocating to Kentucky, then North Carolina, enabled him to fish waters he had only read about. Carolina's famous outer banks, the Dan and New rivers of Virginia, and the TVA impoundments of the Smokey Mountains added striped & small mouth bass, bluefish, Spanish & king mackerel to the list. Having excelled in art since an early age, he has combined that gift with his love of the outdoors and angling, to create these highly realistic wooden relief carvings. Greg now resides just outside of the small town of Linden, Ca. on the Calavaras River, where he lives with the catch of his lifetime.

You can visit a selection of Greg's marine-wildlife carvings on our website by following the link here to Greg Pezzoni. at Skipjack Nautical Wares & Marine Gallery. We currently have a great selection of his whales to choose from including humpback, sperm and gray whales. These life-like relief carvings will certainly be highly collected and a perfect accompaniment to your coastal home. Shown above: A large white sperm whale and below, a humpback whale.

 

 

Carved from kiln dried pine, the pectoral and pelvic fins  are carved separately and added on to give the impression of a full bodied mount. Each piece is then sealed, primered, painted and then finished with several coats of high quality varnish. Greg uses high quality species correct taxidermist glass eyes in most of my carvings. The back is flat with a custom designed mounting bracket that allows you to angle the mount in any direction with only one hanging point. It also extends the mount out away from the wall giving it a more rounded three dimensional look.There are felt pads that allow this feature with no damage or scratches to your wall.

Greg's wildlife carvings is a great example of the type of marine art that you will find at Skipjack Nautical Wares & Marine Gallery. Here is a link to the marine art gallery department at Skipjack.

The 2011 Marine Folk Art Show

Folk-carved Humpback Whale by Southhampton artist Randy Kolhoff

It’s a folksy collection of whales, mermaids, fish, fowl, carvings, paintings, models, trade signs, weathervanes, folk and sailor art. Some are whimsical, others memorable, but they are all simply delightful. The 2011 Marine Folk Art Show opens this Friday at 5 PM at Skipjack Nautical Wares & Marine Gallery located at One High Street (on the riverfront) as part of Olde Towne Portsmouth’s First Friday Events.

Virginia decoy carver Gentry Childress

Featuring original folk carvings by Randy Kolhoff, Steve Hazlett and Jac & Patricia Johnson, decoy carvings by Gentry Childress, “folky fish” wall art and furnishings by Joe Marinelli, contemporary scrimshaw by Tony Perry as well as other marine artists works. A variety of vintage and antique folk carvings and marine folk items will also be on hand.

Mermaid weathervane by Jac & Patricia Johnson

Scrimshaw artist Tony Perry will also be at Skipjack during opening weekend and decoy carver Gentry Childress will be at Skipjack, Saturday, June 11 throughout the day to demonstrate his fine artwork. Go to Skipjack Nautical Wares & Marine Gallery’s news/events page at http://www.skipjackmarinegallery.com/ for their complete schedule of artist demonstrations. The 2011 Marine Folk Art Show runs through Wednesday, June 29, 2011. It’s the greatest folk show in town!

Folk art carvings from a previous Skipjack Marine Folk Art Show

*The 2011 Marine Folk Art Show is featured in the summer edition of Sea History Magazine!