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Author: Gary Browning
About the Author:
Gary Browning has used his scroll saw portrait techniques to preserve many treasured family photographs. He also enjoys scrolling portraits of pets, wild animals and celebrities. His techniques and projects have been featured in Scroll Saw Workshop magazine.
When one tries to conjure up the words to describe Gary Browning, the Latin motto Semper Fi comes quickly to mind: in life, in word and in his craft, he's always faithful. Thanks to his Marine Corps-bred determination to follow through, adapt and overcome, Gary has converted his woodworking talents into scroll saw portraits and pattern presentations that are indeed "picture perfect."
Gary was born in Cumberland, Maryland, in 1970. He graduated from Boonsboro High School in 1989. While in school Gary's studies were supplemented by a steady diet of track and field, which included cross country running, pole vaulting and burning up all his one- and two-mile relay races. What's more, sometimes he vaulted and ran three races in a single meet.
Early on in his high school days, Gary's athletic prowess earned him the nickname "Sarge" from his coaches and teammates. They all knew that this fast-footed teen was Armed Forces bound. True to their predictions, seven days after high school Gary boarded a Greyhound to Parris Island, South Carolina. His journey to become a United States Marine had begun.
In the Corp, Browning was a rifleman and marksmanship instructor. Two of his most memorable moments were walking off the parade deck in boot camp as a Marine to shake the hand of his father, a former Marine, and coming home after the Desert Storm War. For Gary, becoming a Marine was more than taking that leap into manhood: it was having that overpowering sense of joy that a son shares by walking, literally, in his father's footsteps. He left the Marine Corps with an Honorable Discharge, several distinguished service medals and, you guessed it . . . the rank of Sergeant.
Life after the Marines is filled with memories of having just enough money for the deposit and first month's rent on a small apartment. But soon he found employment installing alarms and fire systems, a trade he still enjoys today. Life continued to bless him with a beautiful wife and two sons, Robert and Chase-Gary's pride, joy and inspiration.
Gary, who admits to having some artistic ability, got into scroll sawing primarily because photographs of his immediate family members were scarce. Whether it's scrolling the Duke, Marilyn Monroe, Dorothy or Geronimo, Gary has a keen eye and passion for discerning shadows, prominent expressions, subtle facial features and curves. His scrollwork, furthermore, aptly captures its subjects with flowing lines that cannot be duplicated via the camera's lens alone.
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