The first screen door Frank Elsworth ever carved was at his cottage in Haliburton, Ont. Made of air dried pine and adorned with a wolf, the door caught the attention of his fellow cottagers.
“People really seemed to like it,” he says. A neighbour asked Frank to design matching wolf doors for his cottage too, and the rest was history.
Since then, Frank’s custom screen doors have included moose, deer, bears, and even sasquatch. Frank only accepts commissions—many of which are referrals from past clients—and he handcrafts all his pieces in his garage at his home on Wagner’s Lake, in Uxbridge, Ont. Though his speciality is screen doors, he also paints pet stones and has spent years making barn wood mirrors.
“The dog stones especially make a lot of people cry,” he says, adding that many customers are surprised by how good the custom artwork is. “When they start crying, I tell them they owe me another $25. It makes life a bit more interesting.”
Frank is particular about the wood he uses for his doors—he exclusively works with air dried Canadian pine from the local mill. “There’s more character in this type of wood,” he says.
Customers often bring Frank images they want included in the design or sometimes just an overall vision—a father, for example, asked for four bear cubs climbing up the door to represent his four children. Frank then carves, paints, and stains the wood, a process that takes about a week.
“Sometimes, the painting drives me crazy,” he says. “I can paint something, and it’s not quite right, and I’ll keep going back to touch it up. The more doors I’ve made, the more particular I’m becoming.”
Though not an artist by training, the Nature’s Art by Frank owner has loved painting and drawing since he was a child. After moving from England to Canada more than 40 years ago, Frank worked as a mechanic and a service manager at car dealerships. While his day-job was more technical, he still made time for creative hands-on work in his art, even taking a handful of classes with local artist John Walmsly.
Retirement launched Frank into a second career as an artist, a feat that Frank says wasn’t planned.
“I’ve always been drawn to stuff like this,” he says, though he doesn’t consider his art to be a business. “It’s not about the money, although it has paid for a couple of nice vacations.”
On several occasions, Frank has stuffed his car with pieces of plywood to paint and carve on the veranda of a rental in Florida. He has also taken his art on the road locally, selling his work at nearby farmers markets and cottage shows.
“At first, some things that people ask for make me think, ‘What the hell?’” he says. “But it’s interesting, and I always end up getting really into it.”
For more information about Frank’s artwork, visit naturesartbyfrank.ca.
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