Big Bear

Here's a new one I just finished carving Friday.  Hopefully, I can get him finished up before the show in Ohio next month.

With the base he stands approximately 18" and is quite an impressive piece, especially once he's got some color to him.  I'm sure the main feature on him will be the drum.  I made it just like a real one with a piece of leather stretched over a wooden frame and tied in the back.  I did this by drawing out the leathers shape on a chammy, allowing lots of length to the

tie strips, soaking it and having Judy hold the wooden frame in place while I pulled, stretched, and tied the matching leather strip on the other side.  Believe me...it takes two people to do this.

 Once dry the leather is nice and tight and presents a nice surface to paint on.  I outlined the design with a gel pen then painted in the colors.  Lastly I use some white on a dry brush to indicate wear in the middle of the drum head where the drum sticks would hit. 

As Google has did a number and discontinued the Picasa site where I had all my albums I've decided to only post photos on the actual Blog post vs. in a Gallery album.  Hopefully they will eventually fix the problems and I can resume posting more photos.  As the videos are hosted on Vimeo they are not affected in any way. 

So, I hope you like this fella and will look forward to your comments as I always do.