March Whats on your workbench?

Pat - Great classic photos of your great grandpa George Barto, legendary Illinois River carver. I'd like to encourage you to consider authoring an updated article on Mr Barto. It's been 20 years since the previous article in Decoy Magazine and you obviously have a wealth of new insight, information and photos. Love to see some info/photos on Mr. Barto's semipro baseball career. Hunting and Fishing Collectables Magazine would eagerly welcome a new article. For your consideration.

Ken
 
Ken - Thank you for the encouragement. I actually have been considering something along those lines. Much more has been unearthed about him since then. Those pictures for example, have never been public in the collectors circles. My mom's cousin gave me those last year. I have other history and artifacts as well. I am thinking about 2 angles, one on his baseball career and, one on his duck calls and miniatures. I truly appreciate the encouragement to do so and will be doing it at some point in time.

Also, not a Barto BWT pattern, but he did make bluewings. Just finished this for our local Food Bank Dinner/Auction...
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Hey Steve, Love the paint on the BB foamer. Hope to get that good of a blend on mine some day. I used to like carving and hate paint but now prefer to paint. Wish I could!!
Really appreciate your work, John
 
John~

Thanks for the kind words. A Broadbill's back, to me, is one of the great wonders of nature. I blend the base color (warm grey dragged into black tertials) then stipple on some white.

I sometimes wish I were born a century ago - so I could just paint gunning stool for all the local guides....

All the best,

SJS
 
See you in Strongsville...

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Geoff~

Great bird! I really like the simple, flowing forms and especially what I call the patternistic/diagrammatic paint scheme. Here's one of mine:

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Question: What do you use as a backgound for your photography? I have used a piece of 1/8" Masonite I curved onto a frame years ago (it's used for the Bufflehead here). It's gotten beat up, been re-painted a couple of times, etc. I've tried putting different fabrics over it when photographing but never can get it as uniform as I would like. I am thinking of using a piece of matte Formica - it would take the bend without creasing or wrinkling and could be cleaned more readily than fabric or paper.

Your thoughts?

SJS
 
What I find very enjoyable, is how each Carver/Maker interprets and creates their own version of Decoy. For me that shows personality. I don't See that in taxidermy type decoys.
Freedom of expression draws me in, and makes me wanna pick the Decoy up and check it out. Get a better read on what the maker had in mind.
 
great looking birds guys! i really enjoy the lines on that buffie steve. reminds me of your goldeneye which is one of the best i'v ever seen!
 
Thanks, Sean~

Up early (3:00) this morning. Put the finishing touches on a friend's Brant Rig. Actually, these 16 are Batch # 1. Batch # 2 ( another dozen) is still in Recovery Room after Major Surgery...

They are mostly Herter's Model 81s - and a few Model 92s. I toughened up their tails and breasts with epoxy, silica and sawdust before painting.

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I'm already thinking about next January's hunts over them on Long Island....

All the best,

SJS
 
This was still on my workbench in March and barely made it to Strongville in time. I wish I would have had more time to work on the paint but that didn't pan out. Well at least I didn't feel embarrassed to send it in.

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Tim
 
While I'm at it here is a perch watercolor I've nearly finished.
Fun fish to do, the jigs were a little harder then I thought they would be but I think they worked out OK.

Tim

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