Put the finishing touches to this one today and am pretty satisfied with it. If things work out it will be destined for the new John Wayne Museum in Winterset, Iowa. Seems the Director of the museum and the Wayne family saw a photo of the small bust I did earlier and asked if I could do another. Their only requirement was that there was no cigarette in the piece. No problem said I. I gave a lot of thought to just how I would portray him, settling on either Rooster Cogburn or Ethan Edwards from the movie The Searchers. As I have a Grandson named Ethan and as The Searchers is probably my favorite Wayne movie I put the coin back in my pocket. I also wandered away from the caricature theme a bit and tried to be a little more realistic. Hope it works.
This one is about 12" with the base and while it looks a little generic without any color I hoping that the application of paint will bring the figure to life. If now I have Rooster Cogburn partially completed as a fall back.
Anyway, I hope you like him so far and will look forward to your comments.
They should love this one! Very nice honor.
ReplyDeleteThe Searchers is one of my all time favorite movies. This carving is sure to be a big hit. A great job as usual.
ReplyDeleteLynn, This one looks next to perfect! :-)
ReplyDeleteAnother museum with your carvings! Great honors that you surely deserve, a really wonderful likeness.
ReplyDeleteI think this is one of your finest pieces. Well done!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great honor to do the Duke. The Searchers was my favorite one too. Favorite pose was him facing out to the landscape with his arms crossed on his back. Have watched it probably over 100 times. Next favorite was Red River, lived not far from the crossing of the cattle drives. Yours looks grand, color will make it POP! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete