tributesinwood

Painting Completed

Our little Cow-hand’s painting is now complete.  The pants are grey with a bit of burnt umber, yellow ochre and raw sienna.  The boots are asphaltum with black heels and soles and then some yellow ochre and raw sienna added in as mud and dirt.  Finally, the whole thing was dry-brushed with a mixture of ivory and raw sienna to give everything a dusty look.

I made a top button out of a piece of lead and used aluminum adhesive backed tape over the belt buckle to finish that off.  The only item left for me is to fashion a couple of spurs for those big boots and then we’ll be ready to finish the fence rails and base.

Plus, I got some more gardening done today before the rain came down in buckets!

Weather-Worn Cowhand

Buford’s colouring is coming along and he’s looking pretty weather-worn from all of his ranch-hand duties.

I’m still not certain on the glove colour and it might change a bit, but I’m generally happy with the way he’s looking.  The blue vest has a red wash added in several coats to give it some depth and the camel coloured shirt has some burnt umber and asphaltum added in the crevices for depth.  Similarly, I added some purple in the crevices of the red neckerchief for highlights.  Some raw sienna and yellow ochre is added here and there for some added dirt.

I’m picturing grey pants and dark brown cowboy boots as the next steps.

It’s really nice that yard-work is crowding my carving and painting time…it’s been nice to get outside again after a long winter.

Painting Progress

It’s a sunny day, I had bacon and eggs for breakfast, and spent the morning doing a bit of painting on Buford.  What a day!

Although I’m just holding the ears in place, you can see that this little guy is going to make a nice little carving.

The head and ears have a cream coloured background and alternating washes of Chocolate Brown and Asphaltum Brown.  A very, very light wash of Asphaltum covers the cream coloured snout and I was sure to leave a few darker “blemishes” for interest.  The nose and lower lip are Carbon Black with a bit of Chocolate Brown mixed in.  The inside of the ears have Chocolate Brown mixed with a Flesh tone.

His “smoke” is a nail bent up and painted with white, and a black-and-white “ashes” tip.

The eyes got a bit of a Flesh tone treatment at the base and then were covered in clear 5 minute epoxy…which gives it a nice gloss.  If you use this method, I’d suggest you first try it with a bit slower drying epoxy as you have to work pretty quickly with the 5 minute epoxy.  You don’t want the epoxy setting up too quickly and spoiling the clear and smooth effect for the eyes.

Plus…it’s my Birthday today, Paul and Emily gave me two great books to read, and, courtesy of my Mom, we’re having a big dinner to top things off!  What a day!

Cedar Posts & Rails

The base for Buford the Cattle Wrangler is going to feature a cedar post and rail fence for him to rest against.  I remembered seeing a nice carving by Lynn Doughty of a cowboy leaning against a fence and kept that backdrop in mind as I pulled this base together.

The entire thing is made out of oak and I intend to stain the base and paint the posts and rails with acrylics.  In the centre of the base will be some gravel or sand…I still need to sort that out.

The posts and rails were simply cut out of the same material used for the base and then rounded into shape with a carving knife.  I drilled two holes in the base at an angle both to the side and to the back.  The ends of the posts were then trimmed back to fit snugly in the drilled holes of the base.  Once glued, these posts won’t be moving far.

I also dished the rails and the posts a bit where they meet so that there will be a bit of a saddle where the final glue will adhere the two pieces together.  The nail won’t add any strength and is just decorative.  I’ll paint the nail head to resemble an old iron nail.

That’s about it for now.  I hope everyone has a nice Easter weekend.

Two Ears and a Relaxed Pose

Both ears are now carved and tacked in place with a dab of glue along with his six-shooter.  Some minor detailing yet to do and some final gluing before I can start painting.

The second ear was done in the same way as the first…a blank cut out on the bandsaw, some initial rough fitting with the Typhoon bit and Foredom tool, and then some slow fitting using pencil lead and carving knives / chisels.  After taking a good look at the final pose, I shortened up both ears just slightly to cover the arms but not drape too much beyond the arms.  That was Peggy’s suggestion and, I think, a good one.  I like the way he’s looking.

I’ll get started on the post and rail fence that Buford will be leaning up against and fit all of that together just to make sure that everything is landing in the right place before I start painting.  More to come!

An Ear for Cattle Herding

This morning’s activities involved nursing a sore back, cleaning several Rosie “droppings” from the backyard and starting into the ears for Buford.  I didn’t enjoy the sore back part nor the backyard part ( Rosie did ) but I did enjoy the carving part.  And my back is feeling a little better.

I made a fairly quick template out of paper just to get the general shape of the ear that would eventually curl around one arm and fall just short of the six-shooter.  After transferring a front and side view of this template to a piece of basswood ( thanks, Emily, for the basswood ), I rough cut it on the bandsaw and then did some minimal shaping with some carving tools.

Following this step, I went back to the tried-and-true method of putting pencil lead on the arm, placing the ear in place, having the pencil lead transfer to the ear and then carving away the pencil lead.  Because the fitting was such a drastic removal of wood, I was able to eye-ball much of the material that had to be removed and resort to the pencil lead only when the final fitting was needed.  Again, I used the Typhoon carbide bit on the Foredom tool to remove the material quickly and then followed up with carving knives and chisels to do some final fitting.

I still have the detailing to do, and, in particular, figure out if the ear is going to need to fold around the cedar rail that this little hound will be leaning against…but, here’s the general shape.  On to the other ear…

Gluing the Arms on Buford

I don’t have a lot to report on Buford’s progress other than that I’ve fitted both arms, now with gloves, and have epoxied the arms in place.  Recall that I had already done a lot of fitting of the arms by using the method of marking the mating surfaces with pencil lead and carving away the high points.  I also made sure that all of the wrinkles that were to go into the sleeves were there prior to gluing the arms in place so that I wouldn’t be trying to carve into tight spots.

This week I’ll get to sawing out the ears and shaping them around the arms.  My plan is to have the one ear go over Buford’s right arm and fall inside the holster so that the six-shooter doesn’t get hidden in any way.  Should look nice.