John Lawrence
Active member
I've had a tough time beating the heat here in Pittsburgh this summer. In the past my house was nearly always shaded throughout the day. But as a result of our local power company and a bad storm last year we lost eight trees that shaded the back of the house. So after eighteen years my wife and I broke down and added a second air conditioning unit to the house last week. As a result of the heat some of my decoy progress was slowed, it was just too hot in my basement some days to work. But things are much better now and I'm back at it full force. Plus the Pirates spent a good part of the last month milling around First Place and that's something that hasn't happened around here in a long time, I just couldn't ignore that you know.
There has been a lot going on in the decoy world over this past spring and summer. If you are not aware there has been a split between the antique dealers and contemporary guys at Westlake resulting in two shows on different weekends now. I have many thoughts on this subject and have written some about it on my blog. I also do a lot of reading on what is going on in the Fine Art market, sorry if that surprises you, and I think that we can draw some parallels between the two. In the Fine Art world the push in 2011, as it has been in for a long time, is on modern and contemporary artists. The "Old Masters" are becoming old news as major collectors are looking for something new and fresh. I see much the same beginning to happen in the Decoy Art world. Prices for this summer's Decoy Auctions didn't set the world on fire. The top end was still very strong, Crowell's and Ward's and such, but the middle too average just didn't do that well. Tastes are changing and you can see this is all the auction catalogs where a significant portion of their lots offered where from Contemporary decoy makers, guys like us. I've seen this "changing of the guard" taking place at both the Easton show and at Westlake where a growing percentage of the vendors are becoming newer makers. And since markets are generally reactionary it tells us that collectors and buyers are showing increasing interests in decoy makers who are actually still breathing. So all in all I'm very excited about this shift in direction and think it's good news for us.
As I've written many times I've been experimenting with newer ways to look at my paint and shapes. This gadwall drake is a result of my search for something new. He was cut from a pattern that I've used several times. What I did different this time was to make it a little wider therefore giving the body a flatter feel. For the paint I used that Impasto style that I've been experimenting with. And with the risk of getting too "artsy fartsy" with you what I want with this style of paint is for the viewer to be able to see and feel the flow of the bird when you pick it up and hold it. So much of experiencing a decoy is just that, picking it up and handling it, that being able to feel texture in the color can be an important part of the experience, adding what your hands feel to what your eyes see. So there is lots of thick paint with ridges and rifts on this guy. He's hollowed white pine and painted in oils. I used Tohickon blended brown eyes on this decoy.
View attachment P7310074.jpg.
And detail of the head.
View attachment P7310075.jpg.
View attachment P7310076.jpg.
I've shown you this hen shoveler as I've been working it it. I'm probably 98% done now with just a few paint details to finish today and tomorrow. She is white pine also. This time I used Van Dyke's Taxidermy eyes, two color blended medium brown.
View attachment P7310069.jpg.
And a head detail view.
View attachment P7310072.jpg.
One of my secrets that I'm willing to give up is to use a lighter brown eye for hens. I think that they just jump out of the head, and just look different than what the rule bound guys use. And that's what I used on this bird. I'll show you the hen gadwall that pairs with this drake on the next post to show the same effect of the lighter eye.
There has been a lot going on in the decoy world over this past spring and summer. If you are not aware there has been a split between the antique dealers and contemporary guys at Westlake resulting in two shows on different weekends now. I have many thoughts on this subject and have written some about it on my blog. I also do a lot of reading on what is going on in the Fine Art market, sorry if that surprises you, and I think that we can draw some parallels between the two. In the Fine Art world the push in 2011, as it has been in for a long time, is on modern and contemporary artists. The "Old Masters" are becoming old news as major collectors are looking for something new and fresh. I see much the same beginning to happen in the Decoy Art world. Prices for this summer's Decoy Auctions didn't set the world on fire. The top end was still very strong, Crowell's and Ward's and such, but the middle too average just didn't do that well. Tastes are changing and you can see this is all the auction catalogs where a significant portion of their lots offered where from Contemporary decoy makers, guys like us. I've seen this "changing of the guard" taking place at both the Easton show and at Westlake where a growing percentage of the vendors are becoming newer makers. And since markets are generally reactionary it tells us that collectors and buyers are showing increasing interests in decoy makers who are actually still breathing. So all in all I'm very excited about this shift in direction and think it's good news for us.
As I've written many times I've been experimenting with newer ways to look at my paint and shapes. This gadwall drake is a result of my search for something new. He was cut from a pattern that I've used several times. What I did different this time was to make it a little wider therefore giving the body a flatter feel. For the paint I used that Impasto style that I've been experimenting with. And with the risk of getting too "artsy fartsy" with you what I want with this style of paint is for the viewer to be able to see and feel the flow of the bird when you pick it up and hold it. So much of experiencing a decoy is just that, picking it up and handling it, that being able to feel texture in the color can be an important part of the experience, adding what your hands feel to what your eyes see. So there is lots of thick paint with ridges and rifts on this guy. He's hollowed white pine and painted in oils. I used Tohickon blended brown eyes on this decoy.
View attachment P7310074.jpg.
And detail of the head.
View attachment P7310075.jpg.
View attachment P7310076.jpg.
I've shown you this hen shoveler as I've been working it it. I'm probably 98% done now with just a few paint details to finish today and tomorrow. She is white pine also. This time I used Van Dyke's Taxidermy eyes, two color blended medium brown.
View attachment P7310069.jpg.
And a head detail view.
View attachment P7310072.jpg.
One of my secrets that I'm willing to give up is to use a lighter brown eye for hens. I think that they just jump out of the head, and just look different than what the rule bound guys use. And that's what I used on this bird. I'll show you the hen gadwall that pairs with this drake on the next post to show the same effect of the lighter eye.
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