February 2014 Workbench Thread

[Brandon Yuchasz]

Steve,
That is another cool project. You retired guys have all the fun!

 

[Tom Modin]

Bob the feathers are great.

Steve the loose owl is terrific I hope you shoot a lot of crows over it

 

[TimJ]

Neat project Steve. Those flying owls are going to be cool but I have a soft spot for Upland Sandpipers, my favorite 'shorebird'. You will have to post a photo when you get those painted.

Tim

 

[sean kane]

hey steve i'd love to see that widgeon gunner on the shelf if ya get a chance! Cool project I used to help teach a Young Waterfowlers program and those silhouettes remind me of the ones on the ceiling at Ashland Nature Center! Is there a Kestrel in there also? Neat stuff already this month

 

[Steve Sanford]

Sean~

Here is the Wigeon Gunner that you spied up on the shelf - I made it a couple of years ago. It's hollow pine, painted in acrylics.

There a 2 Kestrels in the "flock". I painted the "drake" yesterday and I'll do the "hen" sometime today.

All the best,

SJS

 

[Al Hansen]

That is one gorgeous drake widgeon, Steve.
Al

 

[MLBob Furia]

Beautiful widgeon, Steve.

 

[jode hillman]

Steve, Very Cool project. Love how you can pick out the different species by profile alone. Is that a meadowlark in the bottom of the pic?

Here is a wet hen Eider on the paint bench.......

 

[Steve Sanford]

Thanks for the kind words, guys!

Jode~

Yup - that's a Meadowlark. I just finished painting a Sedge Wren, too.

All the best,

SJS

 

[Steve Sanford]

Jode~

I forgot to add the most important thing - I love that Eider - speculum is especially fine!

SJS

 

[MLBob Furia]

Nice bird, Jode.
Change of pace for a bit to catch up on some call requests
Elk antler:
View attachment Elk14.jpg

Some of Al's salt cedar with nice "rays" & color:
View attachment EG14.jpg

 

[Tom Modin]

killer lady Jode!!! love the colors on that bird.

I finished up the lady I was working on today. Simple gunning fish-eating, lawn dart. Hollow bass, sealed with epoxy and painted in oil. Can't wait to see how she floats.

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[Steve Sanford]

Tom~

Gorgeous Hoody Hen! (First bird I ever shot....49 years ago....). Great shape and wonderful brushwork!

All the best,

SJS

 

[jode hillman]

Nice Tom, Real soft!

 

[TimJ]

Tom I like that a lot. Very nice shape and looks soft as a feather.

Bob I think I sad this before, you must have a good respirator. Nice calls.

Tim

 

[Capt. Frank Miller]

Woodrow.......
View attachment w4.jpg

View attachment w3.jpg

 

[Colin Fitzpatrick]

Just finished up this wigeon i had been working on, hollow cedar painted in ronan's

 

[Steve Sanford]

Tim et al~

I painted the last birds this morning. I still need to take good portraits of each and also to coat each with matte varnish to protect the paint. Here is the whole "flock":

I had to photograph these outside so I could get a homogenous background because my usual photo "cyc" is too small. It was around zero degrees, though, so I did not tarry.

I had fun drawing and painting each species - learned lots. Not sure which is my favorite - maybe this male Harrier:

This Kestrel certainly shows the falcon shape nicely:

The Three Short Ears were certainly fun - especially getting slightly different facial expressions on the 2 standing birds, even though they share the same silhouette:

Now, back to my Scooter - more paint and some canvas work......

All the best,

SJS

 

[Tom Modin]

very cool Steve, I bet you had a lot of fun on that project. Kestrel is my favorite bird

 

[Bill Embacher]

Steve, I love your silos!

Geoff, the eider is incredible.

Here is my Old Squaw all finished up, for donation to a DU banquet tonight. I saw a similar stand to this one, and liked it, so I modified it a bit and came up with the pic below.