Carving 115 which I started in December 2018 and finished in January 2019, was a Merlin. I had seen a few during fall migration in Key West and had never done any falcon or hawk carvings before so it was a great learning lesson. It was also such a pleasure seeing these Merlins soaring and stooping over the island, especially the one I saw in a very fast dive over Fort Zachary Taylor State Park! I think it must have been chasing some Palm Warblers as they were abundant at this time. I will have to make a blog post for it in the future!
Carving 116, is a Least Grebe, I saw on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, in the duck ponds close to the Atlantis Resort. I carved it out hollow so it can float, plus made legs and feet out of bamboo. I was initially going to make it as a kind of toy to play with me niece and nephew at the beach, but it turned out to be a little too nice and a little delicate, so it sits on a plexiglass stand in my room now.
Carving 117 is today's post: Red-bellied Woodpecker
This is the most common woodpecker in South Florida and can easily be spotted around neighborhoods and parking lots planted with scattered trees. It is also common across much of the Eastern United States, with its range expanding north. In South Florida these birds are sometimes considered a subspecies or race: Melanerpes carolinus perplexus. These birds differentiate in having a paler forehead, more black on the tail, the white bars on back larger than black, and smaller in size. Also the South Florida birds eyes are more brown than black. So, I models my carving after this race as these are the birds I see here at home in South Florida.
Red-bellied Woodpecker carving, after its been shaped and sanded, this is the time I do adjusting to the carving and any minor details before painting.
Red-bellied Woodpecker, being painted at the Palm Beach Gardens studio today. So you can see the back is a little more black than white, the tail is almost entirely black, and the forehead of the male is not entirely red.
Red-bellied Woodpecker finished carving, on a Sabal Palm. The legs and feet are made of wire and wood, and two of the toes create and upside down V so that the bird can hang on a nail, or rough bark of a tree in this case.
Red-bellied Woodpecker finished carving. These photos were taken at Frenchman's Forest Natural Area, in Palm Beach Gardens. It's a nice local park that has lots of native species.
A side view of the carving. Here you can see how the tail of woodpeckers brace the tree, helping them climb and balance as they peck and hammer at the bark. The tail feathers are strong and stiff! I think if I was to work more on this bird, I would have made him a little slimmer. He's a little too fluffed up for this hot climate.
A final view of the finished Red-bellied Woodpecker carving, resting on a dead branch of a live oak.
Thanks for reading! And to see more of my work / process please see my Instagram: @pondcypressstudio
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