[wood-whittler]

bob,

the eagle is looking good,looking forward to seeing the finished pics.

bart

[santagibbs]

The eagles looking good.. I would prefer the carved eye.. I can see you not only carve ships but have a lot of talent for prospective. Go for it and have fun.. !! That's what carving is all about.. Work hard on some and have fun too.. Charlotte

[Irishman]

Bob, your going to have to start putting birds on your ships! The head appears to be coming right out of the wood. Keep them pics coming.
Patrick

[mark yundt]

I'm getting in late on this one, they might be done by now. For what it's worth Bald and Goldens have subtle but distinct head shapes , especially where the beak joins the scull. Also the feathers as well have unique shape to each species. As far as coloration goes the base and center section of the feathers are an umber color fading out to at times a cinammon/yellowish color along the edges. If you can find it the book by Floyd Sholtz shows these differences as well as some of the best color shots you can find short of viewing the actual bird. As far as the eyes go , on any living thing they are the most important element. I feel if you get them wrong it can really hurt the piece. Seeing that this is a relief , an thus fairly flat as opposed to a full carving, a glass eye might pose some problems to get it to sit at the right angle. The back plane of the eye should be almost perpendicular to the beak. Birds like these don't roll their eyes around to look at things like we do, they turn their entire head. So after all this blather,,,,carve the eye, or sculpt one in place since it's getting painted, and then you can paint it in the proper perspective.

[squbrigg]

You're not too late with your blather Mark! I appreciate it.

I am still picking away at the Eagle, just did a bunch of burning on the feathers. I vee tooled the majority of them first, and then burned to reinforce them some.

The "eye" I am working on. I have shaped a piece of Ebony and a piece of Mahogany and have glued them up. Will have to shape them into the eye and then position it at the proper angle. That will be the challenge, as the eagle is not a profile shot but about 30 degrees off her starboard bow. A nice challenge.

I am going to need some help with mixing the colours though, I used Dennys and Corbetts book on Bald Eagles for the last Bald Eagle cane I did and the colours turned out wonderful, so I may have to ask Lori for some help with the Golden Eagle colours. I have Scholtz's book on Birds of Prey, and it is very helpful. The head on Gloden is different than a Baldie, so I hope I get it right.

I'll try to post a picture later today, Christmas stuff has me worn out, so progress has been slow.

Bob

[LCorbett]

Hi Bob...got your PM...sorry about the late response...I wasn't ignoring you. Just been busy trying to finish up some paintings for book #3 in the Denny Rogers series...

As to the colors, I've never done a Golden Eagle, so I can't give you specific mixes, but I'll try to give you a list of colors that I can discern from various photos...
You can make a wide variety of mixes to obtain several values from these colors (this creates interest and realism):


Raw Umber (Pbr 7)
Unbleached Titanium, also known as Titanium Buff (PW 6)
Titanium White (PW 6)
Zinc White (PW 4) - a transparent white for glazing and softening some lighter areas
Yellow Ochre (PY 42)
Burnt Umber to warm up some areas (PBr 7)
Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide (PY 42) - this for glazing to get that beautiful golden color on the head
Quinacridone Gold (PO 48 / PO 49) - again, a glazing color for the head and perhaps some of body feathers
Dioxazine Purple (PV 43) - add this to the mixes to get darker values, as well as a glazing color for some shadows.
I don't use black out of the tube, but mix them myself. In this case, I would probably make it from Raw Umber + Ultramarie Blue (PB 29) and a touch of Diox Purple.
The beak I would use my mixed black and tint with Zinc White.
For the yellow portion I would use Cadmium Yellow Medium (PY 35 or 37) + some Yellow Ochre and a bit of Unbleached Titanium. Add more Unbleached Titaium to the mix for the highlights.

When I speak of glazing, I mean that the color is thinned (diluted) with either glazing medium or flow medium and applied over the top of the painted area. This will alter the color, but allow the underlying details to show through...it also helps create luminosity.

Hope this helps, and not complicates things (ya gotta know me...lol). If not, give me a shout...

[squbrigg]

Thanks Lori, I appreciate the help.

I made and shaped the eye, (Ebony and Mahogany)and then installed the eye, shaped the area surrounding it and built up the area over the eye to give it the "hawkish" look of the Eagle .... if that makes sense! I softened the feathers with a green scouring pad and it's ready to paint. Have to do some carving to give it a background, but I'm quite happy with the Eagle.

Also shown are a couple of pics of that carving surface that I use with the dowel hinge, and a cute little critter I did for my granddaughter.

Bob

[Paul_Guraedy]

Bob, the eagle looks great and I think the carved eye is much better in a relief carving than the glass eye. I have never tried carving one and then inserting it. I guess I will have to put that on my "learn to do" list.

I was glad to see the information on painting that Lori put on this thread. I will download that to keep for some future carving.

I am really looking forward to seeing the finished product.

Good job, my friend.

[Mark N. Akers]

Great job so far Bob,please post some pictures when it's done.

[Bandaid]

Terrific job on the eagle Bob. Thanks for the pics. of your carving board set up.