First Mountain Man

[Irishman]

I think you'll see a very close resemblance of my very first Mountain Man to what Deborah just posted a short time ago. I was so impressed with her Mountain Man, I had to give it a try...so I used it as a reference. I have never carved feathers before as you can probably tell. I would like to try it again with a large piece of wood so I can do a better job of the beard. The 12 inch ruler next to it will give you an idea of the size, and the wood I used is basswood.
Well I'm starting to take more risk and moving away from my traditional wood spirits. Thanks for the inspiration Deborah.
Patrick

[squbrigg]

First class Patrick! Your "eyes" are what get me! They draw your attention immediately and hold it. You have them to perfection.

Now, we do have to talk about finishing the head though.... It's time you took the plunge and finished that lad's cap and hair. The feathers look great.

Great job.

Bob

[Colin-Partridge]

Patrick really nice Mountain Man I have yet to try one. You did really well. Taking your inspiration from Deborah is great I take and have taken a lot of inspiration from her carvings. I have seen a lot of them close up and believe me the pictures do not give them the praise they deserve.
Colin

[Ashbys]

Patrick ,
Nice ! Job!

Good features , good face nice detail! The Feathers are good.

If you try them again, try something a bit different to give you the feather line. A decoy carver who haunts this board ..... told me the way to tell a new carver or some one who has never done feathers was to watch the feathers.

A new carver will set the lines of the feather into striaght lines, but a real feather is made with s lines. pointing from the tip to the stem . If you look at a real feather they are in a elongated s shape When you try them again try using this method I think you will be more please with the "look" of the feather and they will be a bit more flowed into the form. I modified your pic you posted to show you what I meant .

But there is nothing wrong with this looks great !

Ash

[Irishman]

Great tip on the feathers Ash. I hope to do more feathers when I try my hand at Native American Indians.
And Bob, I considered carving more of the cap but I was worried about running out of wood as I did not choose a large enough log.
Thanks for the complements. It was fun to carve.
Patrick

[Callynne]

Patrick, I can't tell you what a thrill it is for me to see your interpretation of my Mountain Man!! This has to be the next best thing to me actually carving a piece, seeing what my work has inspired someone else to create! I love it!! You did an excellent job! Congratulations!! Gee, feel like I should say that to both of us!

Thanks to you too Colin, you know how I appreciate your opinion of my work! Deborah