tributesinwood

Painting Underway

Fergus received some colour this weekend as did the two piers holding up his observation dock.

The painting is done with acrylic paints.  I put on several washes, or light coats of colour so that Fergus’ coat didn’t look too uniform with hard lines where the colouring would have stopped and started.

I also like the way that the piers turned out.  Again, several acrylic washes followed by some dry-brush highlighting.  I hope that you can see the water line on the piers…I thought that would be a nice touch.

All of the acrylics get a coat of urethane to seal and deepen the colours.

I’m enjoying this carving and will be sad when it’s finished.

Next Stop…Painting

Well, I think that the carving portion of Fergus looking out from the dock is wrapped up.  I had originally intended to add a bit of a rope coil to the dock, but I’m liking the way he looks without the extra accessory as it keeps the focus on the dog carving.

The base is oak and will be stained and get a few coats of urethane.  I carved the dock so that it is perched up on the piers and creates a space between the dock and the oak base.  I also cut and shaped it in an irregular pattern around the piers…I like the way that it turned out.

The tail is made from copper wire, twisted together and soldered and finally coated with epoxy. Making something like a tail out of wood is just asking for trouble…the wire and epoxy combination will have it last forever.

Take a look at the completed version and pass along your thoughts.  There’s still some room for modifications before the painting begins.  There are a few more pictures of Fergus on the Flickr Site that you can get to through the link at the side of this page

By the way, Grandma has enjoyed knitting alongside of Fergus’ progress…but, not as much as she enjoys getting her photo taken!

Fergus Makes More Progress

I was able to make a bit of progress on the little Basset Hound during the evenings.

My Mother is actually spending some time with us right now, and as she’s hooked on “Coronation Street” and knitting, I’ve been carving away as we sit together.  I can’t say that it’s improving my carving ability at all, but I am learning a bit more about all of the characters on Coronation Street.   And I’m enjoying my Mom’s company.

“Fergus” is starting to get a bit more detailed in his hound looks and I’ll make some more progress on him this weekend.

I’ve been quite surprised on the number of visits to my site just based on people’s interest in Basset Hounds.  I didn’t realize that there were so many hound lovers…but, I can understand why.

…and Fergus gets a body!

Little Fergus acquired a body these past evenings and I think that he’s taking shape nicely.  Those ears are billowing from the breeze off of the water and you can already get a sense of his eyes squinting against the wind.

This week I’ll start detailing in the face and feet which will start to bring him to life.

I also have a nice piece of oak that will be cut in an irregular pattern that the pier and posts will be mounted on eventually.

Fergus the Basset Hound

Work has begun on Fergus, the Basset Hound modelled after my earlier carving of Hobo ( with Ned ).

I have the head roughed in with his big ears flowing in the wind.  Remember that the idea here is to have Fergus enjoying a stiff breeze off of the end of a pier.

The head is being carved separately from the body as I want the head turned a bit to the side rather than have the head and body in a single straight line.  I think that this will look a lot nicer once the little dog is standing on the pier.

And speaking of the pier…I have it underway as well.  If you refer back to my concept drawing, you’ll notice that I’ve oriented the pier slats differently.  Again, once I started roughing out the carving, the side to side slats just looked nicer to me and would give any viewer of the carving more to look at once the individual slats are detailed in with all of the irregularities of an aged pier.

I like those ropes around the pier supports.

Thanks for dropping by to see this project underway.