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This full sized songbird is carved from tupelo wood. It's a beautiful looking bird but is no friend of the wine makers.
The branch, vine and grape cluster were carved separately from one piece of basswood and it is attached to a mahogany base. I wanted to show the thief in action!
The piece was carved using a Foredom power carver for the roughing phase and a micromotor was used for the texturing. Feathers were burned with a Colwood burning tool and finished with many washes of acrylic paints.

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Comments

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Very nice carving it looks so true to life.
 

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Roman;

WOW! That is excellent. Well done and thanks for sharing.
 

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Nice, not only the carving but the painting too
 

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Looks like we have the master back in action, another fabulous piece Roman, your attention to detail brings it to life, that vine & the grapes look so real I want to pinch one of that thief, : )
Pete
 

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This is a really gr8 carving. very realistic. that branchis totally awesome too. I have a front yard full of Blu Jays, Cardinals, 4 or more different species of Woodpeckers, and just many many more.
 

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That just blows my mind, wow what skill
 

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Bonsai Roman your work is so wonderfully " El Natural" thanks for posting…BC
 

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Roman,

Really true-to-life! The grapes and jay look absolutely alive!

L/W
 

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Fantastic! I don't know what's more impressive, the craftsmanship of your project or it's artistic presentation?
 

· In Loving Memory
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Besides being so well carved, this is an extremely well composed scene! Fantastic work Roman.
 

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The coloring of the Blue Jay is spot on. But what impresses me even more is the sculptural quality of the branch… and how you managed to make the transition from the base to the branch so fluid… and natural looking. Outstanding piece !!

p.s. ~ If I could carve a 'branch' like that, it would make an outstanding spoon handle.
 

· In Loving Memory
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It's a beautiful carving and I love it. However, I don't love those birds. About 3 years ago I spent a whole month photographing a nest of robins from my patio. They were less than 20 feet from my camera and I got some extraordinary pictures. However, on one day a blue jay attacked the mother and knocked her out of her nest. The jay went strait at her from 20 feet. They both fell to the ground and had I not been there the mother would have been killed. I jumped up from my chair and ran out instantly an ran the scoundrel off. When he came back I through a block of wood at him and ran him off again and again. He never came back and the mother and father robins went on to raise a fine family of robins.

helluvawreck
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com
 

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Your work is incredible and inspiring…. Wow!
 

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Thank you all for the compliments.
Hal,Thanks for your kind words. When I started carving songbirds it was strictly by the letter and I felt there was no emotion. So I jumped out of the box and started to create what I saw in nature and in my front yard. The habitats had to follow suit and the vine was a challenge but fun to create! If you look at the piece, the base ,branch and bird rotate slightly on a vertical axis, i.e. like a spiral, adding to the 3-D effect.
Helluvawreck, I'm with you on the nastiness of the bird. The only thing beautiful with this bird is it's colour. I'm glad you saved the robin.
Spoontaneous, You are too modest. Your spoons have many curves and are well done. Now I'd like to see one with grapes!!!
 

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Beautiful!!

Love it all, Fantastic…...........................
 

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Beautiful work. He looks real, you did a great job!
 

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Exelent work! Very professional! Thanks for all your work!

Супер профессионально! Огромнейшее спасибо , глаз отдыхает и душа радуется!
 
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