Once again, I’m going to try and bring forward posts from my original Out West Woodcarving blog posted on Blogspot. There might be a few blank spaces with the loss of videos by Vimeo and the loss of all my Picasa photos when Google decided to shut that program down. Hopefully, putting them here will ensure that they will remain available. Anyway, here is one of the first, originally posted back on November 15, 2007.
“While I was painting the fella on the right his Bunkhouse buddy Squint dropped by so I thought I’d just put them together to wrap up this post. You’re might be wondering why I always seem to have a tailor-made dangling off the lower lip? Well, remember that my Cowboy characters are set in the period of about 1860-1930. I would venture to say that most if not all members of a cattle crew lit up back then. That, plus the fact that it gives a lot of “character” to the character even though it might be a bad habit are two good reasons to do that little detail. You will also note that those cigarellos have a slight bent look to them. If you’ve ever rolled your own you’ll recognize that no matter how hard you try you’ll never get that “factory” look to your product.
I mounted these two wranglers on oak bases with a pony shoe. That’s a perfect size for the scale I work in. If I had carved an entire body a full sized shoe would work. For the larger shoe I like to use the shoes the Farrier removes from our horses when he gives them a retread. Funny, up in Dayton there was a guy eyeballing one of my figures mounted this way but he said he didn’t like the “used” shoe on the piece. I told him it was from my horse Boomer and that that worn look was from the good times the two of us had had roaming around the hills of Oklahoma. I thought it added a much more personal touch than if I’d tacked on a new one. Evidently he didn’t agree as he looked a little longer and then wandered off. His loss not mine!
It’s Thanksgiving tomorrow and we hope you all have a good one. It will be a quiet one for us with just my Mom coming over. But, as she just turned 92 that’s probably the best thing we could be thankful for. Our two sons will be home for Christmas this year so we’re thankful for that too.”
Let me know what you think about my reposting these. I think it’s fun to look back to reflect on my journey in woodcarving.
Comments welcome as usual.
Great carvings and paint job. I smoked for 43 years and rolled them myself, but i’dd liked them thin. Then I’ve got more out of a package (typical Dutch) hahaha.