And Here She Is...
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Maybenartist
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I like this piece very much, as Arty said, amazing!
musket
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Thanx. She's got the mojo for sure. Even her shadow on the wall looks sinister. Her feet could have been much better but they were my first try at making feet, a major pain in the ass. Sharpies have tarsi like matchsticks and much more slender toes-- in this respect she looks more like a Cooper's hawk (it's almost impossible to tell a female sharpie from a male Coop; sharpies have squared off tails and Coops rounded, but they are otherwise identical).
We named her after Bela Lugosi because of the red eyes. Don't ask me where my sweetie acquired this (one of her cardinal rules of thumb for living is, "Never reveal your sources"), but...
We named her after Bela Lugosi because of the red eyes. Don't ask me where my sweetie acquired this (one of her cardinal rules of thumb for living is, "Never reveal your sources"), but...
musket
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If you look at the patagial feathers on what most people think of as the shoulder (it's actually the wrist) in the pic with the black background, you'll see one of the hardest things to do. To get each feather outlined like that (this is the way the real feathers are), you must have absolute control of both the brush and paint consistency. If you don't, you'll get blobs, smears, and God knows what else. Same with the feather shafts. You have to be in the zone for this. Rhythm is all. I could never do it now.
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musket
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Thanks guys.
Sno... although I appreciate your appreciation of the realism, JFYI it isn't a compliment to compare a bird carving to taxidermy. "Wooden taxidermy" is actually pejorative when applied to a carving. A dead stuffed bird looks like a dead stuffed bird. The idea is to go beyond that and create the illusion of life out of a dead piece of wood. Carvers actually take great artistic liberties with nature. We have all kinds of tricks to lead the eye where we want it to go, even if it means skirting fidelity to the real thing. "Feather acceleration" is one of them. The patagial area of a wing doesn't really look like Bela's. It's much more chaotic. Increasing the size of each feather as it approaches the secondaries is more coherent to the eye.
Sno... although I appreciate your appreciation of the realism, JFYI it isn't a compliment to compare a bird carving to taxidermy. "Wooden taxidermy" is actually pejorative when applied to a carving. A dead stuffed bird looks like a dead stuffed bird. The idea is to go beyond that and create the illusion of life out of a dead piece of wood. Carvers actually take great artistic liberties with nature. We have all kinds of tricks to lead the eye where we want it to go, even if it means skirting fidelity to the real thing. "Feather acceleration" is one of them. The patagial area of a wing doesn't really look like Bela's. It's much more chaotic. Increasing the size of each feather as it approaches the secondaries is more coherent to the eye.
musket
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This is one of the most famed and revered of all bird carvings, by the late great Bob Guge, who stated categorically that he had exaggerated the expression of the juncos to make them appear more friendly.
Oops, sorry... it begins with the cardinals no matter the URL. Just scroll through until you get to the three dark-eyed juncos on bittersweet.
http://www.wingsinwood.com/detail-gallery.php
Those of you who think I was great with traditional decoratives should have a look through this site. I was good, no doubt about it, but not in this league. I didn't really like the guy, but no question he was one of the best that has ever been. I could never have hoped to get this good. Hence I branched out, so to speak, into less conventional work.
Oops, sorry... it begins with the cardinals no matter the URL. Just scroll through until you get to the three dark-eyed juncos on bittersweet.
http://www.wingsinwood.com/detail-gallery.php
Those of you who think I was great with traditional decoratives should have a look through this site. I was good, no doubt about it, but not in this league. I didn't really like the guy, but no question he was one of the best that has ever been. I could never have hoped to get this good. Hence I branched out, so to speak, into less conventional work.
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Well I should have said it looks more like a real bird than a wood carving but it stands to reason that you would not have a real bird sitting so still for so long in your house.
