Monday Mornings

Here's a new one that left the Ranch before the paint was dry!   The weekend's over and he's not to happy about what the Top Hand has laid out for him.  At least it's not fence work.

Hope you like him. 

Long Robe - Native American Bust With Shield - Finished

Well, it took a while but he's finally finished.....Just in time for the Tulsa Woodcarving Show.   I'm quite pleased with the way he turned out and hope you are too.  That shield really sets him off and shows how much an extra detail can add to a piece. 

Comments welcome. 

Brave Heart

Here's another one fresh off the paint table.  Wrapped in his painted robe with warpaint  on his face,  he's no doubt planning how to get his horses back from that bunch a couple mountains over.  

I never tire of Native Americans.  The opportunity to paint them is just too enjoyable.  

"Dang Rustlers!"

I finished this one up last week.  I really like to do the 3/4 style busts as a lot of detail can be squeezed in without making the figure so large. 

This Rancher is after the reprobates who have been diminishing his livestock.  He's got his noose ready and is heading to the corral to saddle up and put an end to it.  Someone's gonna get their neck stretched!

Willy White Owl

Here's Willy, all painted up and ready to head down to the new Casino and try is luck.  Hope you like him.  

 Comments always welcome. 

Clearing the Deck

I'm still working to clear off the partially finished carvings setting on my work table.  One of the best way to do it is to add a bust body to one of the many heads I've done.  I think I've mentioned before that on our Tuesday carvers gathering at the Senior Center in town I can usually manage to pretty well rough out a new head in the two hours we're there.  So, these things build up after a while.  

While Bottle Stoppers are a good way to mount them I think this works out much better by making a something fairly simple turn out to be a really nice presentation.  The base is walnut and it, with the figure, stands at 12".  

Now to paint it!   Comments welcome as always. 

Old Gabe - Painted

Added the hat feathers yesterday which completed this piece.  I had my worries about whether the solid color capote would work but I think it turned out pretty well.  Not every Mountain Man in the Rockies was fortunate enough to have a Hudsons Bay blanket and had to depend on just what was available.  

I spent some extra time letting the waist strap ends hang down over the base to tie the two areas together.  The two pieces were attached but reinforced by epoxy on the back side.  As long as they are not purposely fiddled with they should be fine.  

In sun, he turned out great...He might be an old codger but up there under that hat is a wealth of knowledge on how to live in the mountains and, most importantly, how to stay alive. 

I hope you like him and look forward to a your comments.  More photos in the photo gallery section. 

Old Gabe Gets a Body....At Least Half of One!

Today I worked on the lower half of Old Gabe.  He's wearing a blanket capote, loosely modeled after one we picked up at a Mountain Man Rendezvous last year at the Woolaroc Museum.  I ask Judy to come down and model it for me so I could actually see how it fit.  Photos are nice but an actual item and model can really make things a lot easy.   I hope to have the ends of the blanket strap hang loosely down from the piece but that's a hurdle I haven't solved yet.  

Hope you like him so far.  

Old Gabe

I'm still in the process of clearing heads off the workbench so with this one I thought it would be a reasonable representation of the Mountain Man Jim Bridger, or Old Gabe as he was known.   Naturally, a little artistic licence will be used to make the figure more interesting but that's okay, at least I think it is.  There's nothing wrong with making a fella better looking that he actually was. 

Several months ago I bought a Mountain Man's blanket capote and this will give me a chance to use it as a reference.  So, let's see if he turns out as nice as I think he will.

Comments welcome as always. 

Buckskin Billy - Painted

Yay!   Finally finished!  Boy....this painting is getting harder and harder.  The old eyes just aren't what they used to be.  He still turned out pretty nice and certainly a bright and colorful piece.  I hope that you also like how he turned out and will look forward to any comments.  Now, on to the next one once I figure out what that will be. 

Buckskin Billy

Just finished working on this one yesterday.  The carved feather was still wet with primer so I used a real one for the photo.  I tried something new this time by adding some beaded piping along the edge where the body of the shirt meets the fringe of the sleeve.  Should look pretty good when it's painted.  I also added a beaded trim around the top of the top hat to give it some extra sparkle once painted.  

I had done the head as a video project back in July of last year.  If you want to see how it was carved just look for "Carving a Caricature Head" here on the Blog or at the Vimeo video link.  I carve a lot of heads with no real end view in sight as to what they will become.  It's sort of like a painter making sketches.  It not only give you great practice that improves your abilities but it also gives you references to use when contemplating a future project.   With this one I wondered whether a Mountain Man would be smoking a cigar....whether that would actually have taken place.  Doing a little research showed that they were popular so I'm sure they made an appearance in the Rockies, no doubt available at the yearly Rendezvous.  

Whatever, I hope you like him and will look forward to any comments. 

Billy Black Elk

Here's a new one.  With the walnut base he stands about 12" tall to the tip of the feathers.  I was a little worried about the colors as they were a little dark compared to other pieces but it turned out pretty nice.   A lot of people ask me why I never do a smiling Indian....well, back in the period I try to represent, they didn't really have that much to smile about.  Anyway, this piece should silence those comments...at least for a little while.  The gold tooth makes his smile just a little brighter!

I added a beaded ring around the top of the hat to add a little interest and also used some texture material to soften the braid wraps.  I left the fan feathers a single color so it wouldn't detract from the overall figure.

I hope you like him and will look forward to any comments.

Standing Buffalo

This piece measures just at 18" with the walnut base.  I originally painted him without any facial decoration but was completely unsatisfied with the result.  So after a little more research and a trip back to the paint table he became a completely new character.  Frankly, with those piercing eyes it's hard to look away without being drawn back.   So, while I had my doubts about this one he turned out better than I had hoped. 

As always, your comments are welcome and appreciated.