Belted Kingfisher

This is the bird I finished during the Gary Eigenburger Class up at the Krausman's studio. Pretty intense week. I will work on the habitate for a bit in order to call it complete. I am going to let it sit for a week or so to fully dry.

Visit to the Eagle Center

Both Mom and John talked about the center. Today Laura and I went down there and spent an enjoyable day. On the way back we stopped at Kings for a burger in Miesville. MMMMM

Two Willows - New Landscape - en Plain Air

Laura and I were bored last Sunday and she wanted to drive about and find a place to just go sit and read. I grabbed my paint and easel and we headed to Caponi Park in Eagan. I found an opening in the lake where two willows displayed prominently on the other side. We sat for about 3-4 hours as I struggled with the color green. I always struggle with posting a impressionistic painting, because it really does look better a few feet away. Anyway, I'll keep churning these out. Particulars is this is a 9x12 gesso panel with oil paint. A wise painter that I admire named Larry Seiler said it takes about 100 paintings just to start to learn. 98 left to go.

Waterfall Bubinga Fountain Pen

I really loved making this pen. In this case, the customer has a full concert grand piano made of the wood from the same tree. When I bought the wood it was called waterfall curly Bubinga. In furniture making it is known as Kevazinga. In any case it is $50 a board ft. (Wowza!) The particular tree this came from has a celbrity-like history because of its size (over 8' in diameter), location in the Camaroon Jungle, and price of $200,000 for the one tree. Read more here http://www1.rockler.com/news/releases/bubinga%20release_final_r1.pdf. This pen pattern is an Art Nouveau retro. The 22kt Gold and Rhodium hardware really look great with the bubinga. He has since let me know that it writes like a dream right out the box which is a surprize given that it ususally takes about 1-2 hours to set a groove into the nib. I am sure it will only get better.

Interpretive Carving - Great Blue Heron

I picked up a piece of cedar root from a Carolina root seller at the World Carving Competition last year. He had so many choices, but I had to fit what ever I bought in my suitcase. When I saw this piece of wood, I knew it would work and an idea of what I wanted to do with it. I might make a few changes next time I try this style but the carving and painting were fun.

The Base is still in the clay design stage, but a friend just cut down a walnut in his yard and slab of it will go to good use. It's Painted in Oils.

Quilted Maple Fountain Pen

One of my best Pen customer's commissioned a fountain pen for her husbands 60th birthday. As happy as I was to accept the commission, it was nice to work without reservation on the style and wood. My only direction was to use a lighter wood. This particular Pen is known as a Majestic. The Majestic is currently one of the highest levels of pen for custom wood hardware. Depending on finish, wood and particular design, these pens run between $175 and $250. The wood in this case is quilted maple from northern Quebec. I received it from mon ami Yves Laurent, who lives in Montreal, but has a chalet on a mountain lake. I have enough for one more pen.

Photographer's Decoy

The Bird Species is a Blue Crowned MotMot. They are native to the tropics in Central to South America. This is known as a photographer's decoy. My Good Friend Keith Mueller is the progenitor of this genre of decoy, having made and used them in Costa Rica to bring in the tropical birds he is fond of photgraphing and carving. This is my version, It is approximately 10" Long and is carved from Basswood and Painted in Oils.

Ducks with Bling

They are back from San Diego. Yea! Now John needs to take some good photos for me.

Painting Revisited

Well I got some comments from an Art Teacher who pointed out some very obvious issues (No focal point, lost values, repetative shapes, Golden Rule busts Etc. So I fixed. It still has some value issues, but I am not sure exactly how I want to fix. The background has the cooler colors, but they are the same value as the foreground. This is an issue I need to consult the John C. Carlson book on landscape painting. By the way, this is not an exact replica of Chris' photo. Not meant to be. Thats what photos are for. Exactly replicating. Interesting that I didn't see how light the colors were until I brought the painting into the sun light. Jeez what a difference. I guess I need different paining light. All I can say is it is not this bright in the house.

Success at the San Diego Show

Just found out that my Drake Canvasback decoy was First in Species, First in Divers and 3rd Best Of Show at the California Open IWCA in the Amateur Class. This is very exciting and also the only IWCA show I entered him in. I finished him initially last spring, but this summer I gave him a sleight nose job, toned down the vermiculation and added a little more detail to his head.

First Painting.

Well, I took the plunge. I have recently wanted to try a painting in addition to the ducks. This painting is from a photo Chris took in Montana and it really struck me. I wanted to try something a little impressionistic. Only thing missing is the fisherman who was in the middle of the stream. I decided that with his green jacket and yellow hat, he was going to get in my way.

Hope you like.

BlackDuck Revisited

Well, After a conversation Keith Mueller, I decided to change my blackduck. I put more of a sweep in the bill and repainted the whole thing.

One of My Favorite Photos

This photo is of a pair of Decoys made by Jode Hillman. They are one of my favorites for many reasons, but most of all since they are now safe on my family room shelf.

Black Duck Completed

Here is the completed black duck. He will need a weight and a strap for the competition. Not expecting to do well, but it will be fun that the carving club will flood the competition with some working blackducks. If the actual decoys are as good as what I saw at the club, we will have some real beauties.

Cork Black Duck

The Minnesota Decoy Carving Club winter project is a cork black duck. Everyone got a piece of cork and we are to be finished by Feb for the MN Decoy Collectors Show. They will be entered into a contest at the show. This is to be a hunting style (no details) so it is simple. I took the inspiration for this pattern from Connecticut. A style known as the Stratford School. I will put the finishing touches on over the next few weeks.