MLBob Furia
Well-known member
Last July, Bobby Sutton of Long Beach (Any relation to you, Steve?) sent me a box of Palm Fronds which I had a great time carving up. Recently, I sent a palm frond coot back to him for use as an auction bird at this weekend's California Open Show.
I chose a coot because of a picture I saw of Audubon's painting of that bird. The pose Audubon used was perfect for the palm frond category stipulation that the carver capture the essence of the bird while retaining as much of the character of the Palm Frond as possible.
Here's what I started with:
When all was said and done, thus is what the bird looked like (note Audubon's picture):
I took it over to the VA home to Buckeye Joe for his inspection, as Joe carved a pretty good coot in his day. He allowed that it was a pretty good bird so I knew it wasn't a complete dog:
Most important step for me was to take the bird out and hunt it before it headed for the coast. If it ends up on some collectors shelf, I have the satisfaction of knowing it was carved to be -and actually was used as - a gunning bird for at least one season:
I chose a coot because of a picture I saw of Audubon's painting of that bird. The pose Audubon used was perfect for the palm frond category stipulation that the carver capture the essence of the bird while retaining as much of the character of the Palm Frond as possible.
Here's what I started with:
When all was said and done, thus is what the bird looked like (note Audubon's picture):
I took it over to the VA home to Buckeye Joe for his inspection, as Joe carved a pretty good coot in his day. He allowed that it was a pretty good bird so I knew it wasn't a complete dog:
Most important step for me was to take the bird out and hunt it before it headed for the coast. If it ends up on some collectors shelf, I have the satisfaction of knowing it was carved to be -and actually was used as - a gunning bird for at least one season:
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