I finished this American Kestrel male this past weekend. This project was one that took place over a number of months with other projects causing it to be placed on hold numerous times. It felt really good to finish him up. It was extra special given that I was able to place the bird on a pine branch presentation.Originally it was going to be placed on a dead stand which would have been similar to the other Kestrel presentations I've done. The owner saw the Saw-whet piece I did for worlds last year and asked if we could put him in a pine setting. This allowed me the opportunity to explore a concept I've had for sometime now with a broken topped pine tree. I have a couple trees on my property that have broken tops and viewing these trees over the years has always given me the idea of placing a bird up there. The Kestrel was a perfect carving to play with this idea.
Not only exploring the compositional elements, but also playing with new ideas for pedestals. This one used a piece of Butternut with a natural stain to show off the grain of the wood while the color of the wood would work well with the sculpture. Also, I wanted a wood that would tie in well with the Kestrels color a bit more. That turned out to be Cherry wood. I also liked the idea of placing a black spacer in-between the wood blocks to add a touch of class to the piece, yet not overpower it.
One thing I found with these tall presentation sculptures is the need for a solid base. If the base is too narrow it is easily knocked over. I have always loaded the pedestal with lead, but it would still have a sense of instability if bumped just right. So, with this pedestal presentation I widened the base with each layer of wood in addition to the lead weighting. The combination was perfect as this piece has no sense of instability at all. I will be using this design again for other tall sculpture presentations.
To see additional photos of this bird please visit my New Release page on my website http://www.simchuk.com/19601.html
No comments:
Post a Comment