Been trying to hustle on orders as best I can and with work starting to ease up, I managed to squeeze in some more shop time. You're looking at figured Cherry over Yellow Poplar that will be headed for the outskirts of Virginia on Tuesday. Sometimes I really don't know what I want to draw and this was one of those such ocassions. I only knew I wanted to do a 1/2 strut gobbler (I have only done one other before, and so he found his rightful place in the center...that led me to add an old house off to the right. I ate lunch yesterday and contemplated the composition...then upon return it was obvious he needed company so I added two hens, one just feeding and the other just waltzing around teasing the ole boy! I knew it needed a back drop so I penciled in some hills and suddenly I saw a nice spot for a barn & silo in the distance, but the birds just didn't look right...they needed some more foreground context and so a fence was born and as they often do it tied back to the house. Now the younger hen was even more seductive since I put her on the other side fence.
Finally the hills became permanent and I was done.
I state above because many times I sit and simply stare at the call until an image hits me and then sometimes the customer knows just what they want. The opposite rail has a cluster of Dogwood flower & leaves, the state flower of where the customer lives. Hope he likes it, he gave me freedom to do as I please.
