eagle

[mark yundt]

Since my last post life has a funny way of getting in the way of our plans.This is the first time since last week I have been able to work on this piece.First my car decided to quit,,so I went car shopping,and yesterday I spent the day at the hospital for my daughters surgery.So,,the only thing I got done was finalizing the book,laying out all the other feathers and making the right foot.I also included the original clay model for reference.Someone had brought up an old post of mine and questioned the validity and usefulness of doing a clay model.Sure,,I could have just gone after the block of wood and pulled out a decent piece,,but using the clay it gave me a good solid reference to the direction of the piece and gave the the major reference points to work from.As you can see the piece is basically what I modeled,,but the details ( the fun part) came out in the wood.This assured me of a well balanced piece structurally and visually and cleared the way for me to just have fun with it without having to worry about form and line,,it was already solved in my mind as well as to my eye.

[Thor]

How important is it that the model be a life-size replica? I mean, does it help you to do a smaller proportional makett (sp) in much the same way? or does this size model answer more potentional questions?

Looking terrific from here.
Thor

[Joy]

It is really amazing the difference the small adjustment in head and shoulder position made to the composition. The wood one is much more dynamic while the clay one has a patient "wait and see" attitude.

[squbrigg]

Mark, you've made great progress on this and I appreciate you sharing your thoughts with us. It helps us understand the subtle details of the piece and look forward to the next steps. Well done!

Bob

[mark yundt]

Thanks everyone.As far as the size,you could make the model most any size you wish.In this case I made it the same size as the final piece only because it gave me the key reference points to duplicate to the final wood.Not sure if you saw it,but I did a post showing how I transferred the clay size to the wood to band saw it out from two sides of profiles.I have made smaller models that I just scaled up the dimensions to fit the wood/size I wanted(I can show examples of this if you like).Yes,,I think the wood one is much more "alive" as well.This is only a natural by product of the type of model I did.On the model I didn't include much detail at all. Since I'm familiar with the birds I knew I'd pull out what I wanted in the wood.If though you're not familiar with your subject you can put as much detail in the clay as you see fit,seeing how all pieces interact and working out questions before you commit yourself to the final piece.Here is where I think the clay is handy. I can get all my proportions,,see where extra wood might be helpful if any area is in doubt and allow me the freedom and speed to find the shape in the wood quickly without any fear of going too far or loosing an important shape.Joy you are correct in noting that minor changes completly transform a piece. After the basic rough out I saw that these minor changes would change the attitude of the bird and how it would project itself.These major shapes affect the piece,,,not the details.Now if I had gone straight to wood,,without the basic guidance of the clay,,much of this could have been lost and corrections might have been difficult if not impossible to make.From the band sawed shape as I was taking it to rough in stage I saw that subtle shifts and removal of wood ,I could change the balance,,attitude ,,and stature of the piece.In this case I didn't use the clay to solve all my questions,,could have,,but it got me in the ballpark of what I knew I was looking for.Even in the base . Here as well I knew that if I kept something within these parameters,,and OVERALL shape, I could do whatever I wanted to here and still end up with a balanced ,proportional piece.Everything still fits within the basic lines,,points to the same place on the bird,,gave me the height I think it needs to establish a look of prominence.A bird this size I think would look silly on a very low,,almost table level base.Much higher it might look top heavy and precarious and if you ignore the individual lines , the overall shape still gives the outline of a tall triangle,wide at the base and narrow at it's head.A pleasing shape I feel overall and from all sides,,,,the clay did it's trick,,might not have been so lucky going straight to the wood.

[workinforwood]

I assume from your thread that you are writing a book then? If so, I know you need a proof reader and someone to make comments in the back, so you best send me a free copy right away so I can get to work.

[mark yundt]

LOL...Yeah,,if I wrote a book ,giving them away is probably the only way I'd move any of them.I apologize for being long winded and my only excuse is I love what I do.And since I don't know who the audience is I'm sure there are many seasoned carvers who already have all the answers and find my posts tedious.But if there are any NEW carvers out there with questions and are afraid to ask,,well,,a few extra words won't hurt.Must be a gene thing,,you should hear my dad explain stuff,,my grandfather wasn't exactly short with words either,,,guess I'm cursed.

[pdxnate45]

Hi, Mark --

As a new member here, I'm finding more and more inspiration from you and the many other outstanding carvers at this site. Thanks to all for sharing! Mark, your eagle is going to be spectacular, and the story and symbolism both thought-provoking and inspiring to all who see it. I've carved a few smaller eagles, one of my favorites was in a very Alaskan pose, on a rocky beach and into his lunch of an Alaskan Sockeye salmon, and it was a lot of fun to carve. I've always intended to do a similar one, but life-sized, but still waiting for just the right wood and the time to come my way....

You are taking a very creative approach to your eagle and I admire what you are doing. I do hope you'll be posting pictures of the finished eagle when you are done. It's also a lot of fun to see work in progress and also to hear the thought processes that bring that vision to life. Thanks so much for sharing and inspiring us!

Nate

[mark yundt]

Well thank you Nate,glad you're enjoying the eagle, and welcome aboard! I see you have been carving quite some time,glad to see that too.Your eagle sounds terrific,,how about some pics if you can,I'd love to see it as I'm sure all of us wood ( would?) I've been distracted for a few days ( as usual) but did manage to start some preliminary burning on the piece this A.M..Sorry about my little buddy (Betty) in the shots,but she refused to get off the stool,,,so....I took the pics anyway.Does anyone know how to change a cats mind?Well it is her shop and she lets me work there, I'm grateful for that at least.I'll keep posting as I move (slowly) along.

[mark yundt]

You (Nate) made me think of a piece a friend did and I had posted this shot before,since you're new I thought you might like to see it.This piece is amazing I think,,and it's pretty big,,approx. 4 1/2 ft tall and the wing span is 5 ft.plus.that's one big bird/glueup.