Process?

[musket]

I think she wouldn't have fetched anywhere near as much as she did had I left her that way.

For the most part, bird carving is centered on competitions (I competed for awhile and did well, but it didn't help sales and it's expensive, between travel and lodgings). There is a category called Interpretive, a catch all for anything that isn't a trad decorative and yes, there are people who do abstract work. And people who do realistic work in nice hardwoods with no paint-- the all time champ of that style is John Sharpe, who won the world championship I don't know how many times.

John Sharpe

Absolutely fabulous, but to most trad carvers, who all have artistic tunnel vision, he was considered a hippie (believe it or not, I actually overheard this term at the world championships one year).

This one created a lot of controversy one year because it has some paint on it-- was it really an Interpretive? Idiots.

http://johntsharp.com/gallery.html#lg=1&slide=72

 

[musket]

And here again is the girl herself, complete with striping. The beak is painted in oils and coated with genuine amber varnish. Everything else was straightforward woodworking and lacquering. Myself, I do think the gilding adds to the look. Goshawks don't just look intense. They look insane. The piece is really a portrait of madness.

 

[OliveOyl]

Its funny...I was looking through the link and I noticed the road kill one right away and loved it. And then I see it's such a controversy...because of paint??? I like some of this stuff especially the ones that are more unusual. Now I'm not trying to kiss your ass (you know I would NEVER do that, right?)...but I like your work better. So there! Take that, Dear Musketeer.

 

[snoball]

Beautiful, Musket! Thanks for sharing the process.

 

[musket]

Its funny...I was looking through the link and I noticed the road kill one right away and loved it. And then I see it's such a controversy...because of paint??? I like some of this stuff especially the ones that are more unusual. Now I'm not trying to kiss your ass (you know I would NEVER do that, right?)...but I like your work better. So there! Take that, Dear Musketeer.

Well that is quite a compliment, thanks. Whew.

The bird carving world is very insular. Very few carvers know much about art in general, and very few about the principles of sculpture in general. Larry Barth is an exception, he went to art school, I forget where. He won the world championship in decoratives so many times in a row-- eleven, I think-- he finally stopped competing so other people would have a chance.

The sad truth is short of making them get up and fly, there's just no way that the work of today's top guns in decoratives can be bettered. The best anyone can hope for is to get as good as them. It's an artistic dead end.

Here's a fun piece by Todd Wohlt. I hate the base but I love the little bee eaters (that's the common name of the species-- little bee eater). All carved out of one piece (including the branch), each with its own personality. Todd died very young perhaps ten years ago. Not even fifty. Cancer. A true shame. He was a very nice cat and a superb trad carver who won world decorative many times. He started at fifteen. Look at the closeup. I couldn't do work like this in a million years.

A detail shot of a lilac-breasted roller by Todd, who generally worked in basswood. Look at the loft on the plumage, how soft it is. WTF? This is wood, fer Chrissake! How did he do that?

 

[Maybenartist]

I love birds and yours are beautifully carved examples, musket.

 

[Roni]

I'll get stuck in how to move forward with anything. It's because of all the energy I've invested into the first idea. I fear I won't come back to it.

Yes, absolutely.
Or the fear, that when you go ahead, you'll ruin what you've already achieved in that piece. [Maybe that's one reason why I so often make quick snapshots during the process: so that when I fuck it up, I still have the rememberance of an earlier state when it was satisfying.]

I can not watch a video with other people, because at some seemingly random moment I'll yell "STOP, STOP. STOP IT!, okay rewind - back back back, hold it!"

Oh dear, yes! I'm doing this all the time [not for work, but simply because I like the picture].
Or ... with me it's more like hitting the "pause" every second during certain scenes and pushing the "s"-key which is my vlc-player-default for screenshots. Watching a movie can deliver over a hundred pics this way, in my case, just for the sake of having them.