My Bio

As the site name implies, I am Tom Forster. I'm an artisan and craftsman. God gave me the gift of many talents at birth and I use them all the time and Thank Him for giving them to me. I paint, draw, sculpt, design, work with wood, metal, composite materials, whatever I need to complete a project or create a new project with a new medium. I also do some programming, I built these websites. I plan to begin practicing the ancient art of Blacksmithing and of Foundry work. Blacksmithing is the art of forming metal by heating it in a forge and beating or hammering into shape. Foundry work is the art of pouring molten metal into molds, creating 3 dimensional objects. I like to think that I am Renaissance Man traveling on the same road that Leonardo da Vinci transversed.

I have an Art Gallery here in cyberspace where you can view my paintings and drawings. I practice my talents the old fashion way, with paint and brushes and pencils. I have heard it said or read it somewhere, 'An artisan needs to have two lifetimes to achieve any level of success'. The first is to learn, refine and hone the skills of the crafts in which one wishes to pursue. The second is to produce the objects from those skills for the world to gaze upon and if a utilitarian item, use. I am now beginning my second lifetime.

I also have a Gallery of my Handcrafted Woodworks . I have recently been building furniture for our home since I finished rebuilding our home. My wife Kathy and I rebuilt our home to add space for our studios. We started this project in November of 2001. You can take a tour and see the transformation. All the finish work and some of the construction was accomplished by Kathy and myself. I also have pictures of the landscaping that we did around the yard. Kathy does a lot of craft works for our home and with our 12 grandchildren when they come to visit. She also sews and makes different items for our home. For those interested I put a link up to show you my wood workshop. In the future after we organize the studio, I'll be putting a link up for it. I have been a bit inactive in the painting, drawing and sculpting as building a house by oneself is time consuming.

I am in the process of setting up a metal working/machine shop for myself. I just purchased a Lathe Master 8x14 lathe and I just finished making a railroad track anvil. The next projects will be a forge and then a foundry. Hopefully by their completion my dear wife will let me get a mill.

I've been hoping for a benefactor to knock on my door for many years. My dream is be able to pursue my many talents without the interruptions we have every workday. Well, I can see one coming down the street but its a year away. Then I will end a 36 year long and fulfilling career with the FAA or for the uninitiated the Federal Aviation Administration . Upon my retirement I will begin to provide you with the wares of my talents.