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FAIRFIELD – The town of Fairfield has a new artistic landmark in the form of a wizard carved into a tree stump that stands 10 feet off the ground.

Kevin Riley carved the wizard using a chainsaw with a special narrow-tipped carving bar for fine cuts. The sculpture faces south, and depicts a man with long hair and a long beard wearing a wizard’s hat and robe, resting his hands on a staff.

Riley said he got the idea to carve the wizard when he realized an elm tree on his property but leaning over his neighbor’s garage would have to come down. They agreed to hire a tree trimming service, and when the contractor had cut down most of the tree, Riley instructed them to stop, leaving a stump about 10 feet tall.

“There was something in there, some greater purpose left for the tree,” Riley said.

Riley is a classically trained artist, painter and illustrator. For the last 15 years, he’s been doing web design and branding, and his main business is graphic design under his company Riley Designs. He also started the company Too Pretty to Burn, where he makes wooden utensils such as spoons and spatulas.

Riley and his wife Faith Reeves heat their home with firewood that Riley salvages from downed trees, something he’s done for many years. Though Riley is both an accomplished artist and knows his way around a chainsaw, he had never combined the two skills until he took on this wizard-carving project.

“I’ve extracted a lot of things from wood, but never a chainsaw carving,” he said. “The more things I make with wood, the more I realize that every piece has potential.”

Riley looked at the 10-foot stump and contemplated what figure was hidden inside that his chainsaw would bring forth. He knew that its shape would have to shed water to avoid rotting, and first considered making a birdbath before landing on the idea of a wizard.

He took a break from cutting to sketch the wizard on paper, putting special focus on its face to get just the right expression.

“I studied ancient Chinese philosophers like Lao Tzu and Tao Te Ching,” Riley said. “There is a text supposedly written by Lao Tzu from 600 BC, and it’s a really interesting contemplative text on the way of things. I was trying to capture this sense of serenity and balance in the expression. I had this feeling that I owed it to the tree to bring a calming resolution to this violent act. Once I started, I was obsessed with bringing this peaceful wizard into the world.”

Riley said he looked at sculptures and interpretations of what Lao Tzu might have looked like, as well as the most famous Chinese philosopher of all, Confucius, who lived around the same time.

“I wanted to figure out what all those sculptures had in common, looking at the lines on the face and what your cheeks do when you’re happy and calm, and not trying too hard,” he said.

In addition to researching images of these ancient philosophers, Riley also took photos of his own hands and face that he could look at while carving. He even used his digital art skills to draw a beard over top of his face for one such mockup.

After making the big cuts with the chainsaw, Riley used an angle grinder and hand tools he borrowed from a neighbor to put the finishing touches on the wizard, which he completed in just a week. Riley gave the sculpture a linseed oil bath to slow the drying and cracking process, and gave it a name, too: Ulmus.

Those who wish to catch a glimpse of Ulmus can see him from the 300 block of West Harrison Avenue looking north up the alley.