Originally published in 2011.
I know it’s been a while since I posted anything but I have a good reason for that…..I’ve been working overtime on this figure. With Woolaroc offering me the chance of a carver’s lifetime goal, I thought I would repay them a bit by carving a caricature of founder of the museum.
Frank Phillips not only created the setting for the museum, it was his lodge and hideaway outside of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, He was the founder of Phillips 66 petroleum company back in 1917. Here’s a link to the museum which I consider houses one of the best collections of western art and artifacts in the U.S.: https://woolaroc.org/pages/museum-and-art. Along with the additional photos of this piece in the Gallery, I’ve included a picture of Frank dressed up as a cowboy which I used as a guide. From what I’ve read and seen, he liked to dress up and play the part of one while at his lodge. Considering this I thought I would alter that photo just a bit and really make him into a working wrangler. Hopefully he’d approve. The carving is pretty large….standing just short of 24″ on it’s base. While the carving part was a little more difficult than normal considering it’s size it was the lettering that was the hard part. My eyes just ain’t what they used to be. I think it turned out pretty good overall. It’s difficult to capture a live person in a caricature without distorting the features which is something I didn’t want to do.
Anyway, I hope you like him and now, with this behind me, maybe we can get back to normal ops and turn out a new video or two. As always your comments are welcomed and appreciated.
