Sunfish Relief

[AlArchie]

Bandaid and Thor, thanks for taking the time to look at this carving, and thanks for the kind words. this little guy was fun to do...no stress or pressure, just a fun carve.

No airbrush work, here, either. The background was a light blue wash over raw basswood. The whole thing was then given several coats of flat Krylon poly, followed by giving the fish body a cover coat of gesso. Then it was just a matter of applying the acrylics, first a full coat of yellow, then the orange was blended in, followed by the white in the back belly and the browns and greens using a dry brush technique. It was fun, too, watching the colors develop, and really surprising when they "pop" with the application of the clear Krylon to finish things up.

Al

[Claude]

Nice little sunnie, Al! Looks realistic enough, I was expecting to see a small wooly bugger hanging from his lip!

Claude

[Bill V]

Al,
Excellent carving painting, and detail. I really like the colors.

Bill V

[Burtoni]

Al:
Incredibly fine work on the Sunfish!!! Great carving and color!! When i saw it I got my rod and reel out and planned a day out on the lake!!!!

[Lynn O. Doughty]

Nice one Al. I've got a pond full of those and they sure are tasty!

[flyfisherman_53]

Very nice carving Al. Looks so real and life like. You sure have the patients to do all those scales. Just caught a mess of those last week before all the storms hit wev'e been having around here. How many hours did it take from start to finish? Again job well done.

[AlArchie]

Thanks again for that last rash of replies. I really do appreciate the kind comments.

About the time to completion....I really never keep track; an hour here, and two or three more there, fifteen minutes one day and maybe 4 hours the next.

A guess.....about 10 hours total.

Al

[flyfisherman_53]

While Iam thinking bout it ,Al have you ever carved fishing lures? Bob

[AlArchie]

I guess I did carve a few stick lures, but it's been so long ago I can't tell you much about them. (like in the 50's....not my age 50's but the years) I used to carve flyrod poppers when I was a kid growing up with virtually NO cash to buy lures. They worked pretty well, too.

If memory serves me, I made most of them out of pine or cedar. About 1/4" diameter and 1/2 to 3/4" long with a bucktail wound on the back. A single aberdeen hook run through the body and secured with model airplane cement.

Al