I think I need to read this one..
http://www.amazon.com/The-Shipcarvers-Handbook-Traditional-Carvings/dp/0937822140/ref=pd_sim_b_3
I think I asked him once, or asked another...and they may have said, something along those lines, now that I'm thinking about it.
The man was a pretty good carver, back when he was just a young man.
The same guy who painted the image in the first pic which you posted -- carved the mold for those late 1960's early 70's plastic [and fake] half-kegs (beer, I think some of the first were made for Old Milwaukee?) which were sold to home consumer.
You might remember those things? It was more like a fourth of an old keg would appear to be jutting from a wall, but all it was was plastic mockup of a wooden keg with exaggerated grain and too large of boards. I think the whole idea came about from a marketer wanting to sell taps and home draft beer supplies, and needed something to cover up the holes needed put in walls to snake the tubing through. It was Bob Brooks first paying job, creating "art" as it were. The man went on to support himself with art, pretty much for the rest of his life.
I can't find a picture online, but I recall when there was one of those things in a house a couple of doors down from where I'm now sitting.
Small world