Hard Luck Horse Ranch - Part 1

This project will show how I go about making a scene for a cow pony I just finished. I've made this same scene a gazillion times and folks seem to really like it as it sells just as soon as the paint dries. As we just finished carving a horse back in November I won't cover that again. This one is about 3/4 size of the one in the earlier project.
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While this scene is for a particular theme the steps I take here pretty well match the steps I would take for any scene I might do. Here you will build a ranch gate, set some gate posts, make a ranch sign and then anchor it all together by creating a nice looking set of bases.
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One of the things that always irritates me when I look at other carvers work is that a lot of them stop without doing what I consider the most important step and that's creating a base or setting for their work. It would be the same thing if you painted a nice picture and then hung it on the wall without a nice frame. You can make a bad painting look really good with a nice frame. The same applies to woodcarving. And no.....I'm not implying that you do bad woodcarvings! You do great work as I've been lucky enough to have seen some of it.
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This will be a three-parter.
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Lots of photos in the gallery.