Local turns stump into ‘dog wood’ for lawn decoration

By Jane Bloodworth Rowe

Correspondent

VIRGINIA BEACH

Bryan Brown's beliefs in re-purposing things to avoid waste led him to turn a tree stump into a lawn decoration.

Now, a wooden dog's head, carved from the remains of a loblolly pine, stands guard over the front lawn of Brown's Hunt Club Forest home.

The larger-than-life carving, which depicts a miniature schnauzer's head, is decorated with carved flowers, mushrooms and a frog. Tommy Winn and Wade Puryear of Covered Bridge Creations created the yard art.

Winn, who said he has carve d wood most of his life, routinely creates decorative items from stumps, driftwood and other pieces of wood. The clients give him an idea of what they want carved, he said, and then he adds decorative touches.

"I’ll add flowers or butterflies," Winn said, because he likes to imagine "what might have lived around that wood, sort of like the spirit of the wood."

Brown and his wife, Mary, chose a schnauzer for their carving because they like the breed so much. They own three of the dogs.

The couple said they removed the pine tree a few years ago because it was too close to their house, and they feared that it might fall onto the h ome during hurricane season.

They decided to leave several feet of the trunk because they wanted to do a carving.

"We tossed around a lot of different ideas," Bryan Brown said, "and we finally decided that this was the look that we wanted."

Winn and Puryear, who have done other carvings in Virginia Beach, spent about a week in July doing the couple's carving.

"I love to see the looks on people's faces when you give them what they want," Winn said. "I take other people's ideas and turn them into art."

The Browns said neighbors and strangers slow down to gaze at the creation when passing the house. Daughters Lianna, 7, and Janelle, 3, "love it," Mary Brown said.

"Janelle calls it ‘my doggie,’ " she said, adding that the little girl runs to the window to see it each morning.

For more information about Covered Bridge Creations, call (434) 738-8207, or visit www.3diftwoodart.net.

Jane Bloodworth Rowe, [email protected]

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