Early bird

[Maria Alvarado]

Was asked to donate a couple of birdhouse ornaments to the Atlanta Wildlife Rescue Effort (AWARE) auction by a coworker, so have gotten an early start. For these, I decided to attempt to carve some regional birds myself, since adding the usual craft mushroom birds seemed less appropriate for an art auction. Anyway, hopefully they will help raise some money for the wildlife center.

The first house has a silver maple body (the entry hold is hard to see, it's part of the bark inclusion), bradford pear roof, and the stylized screech owl is carved out of redwood (as in sequoia).
Owl.jpg

The second house has a pignut hickory (I think) body with bark on and lichen, wild black cherry roof and finial, and the red-headed woodpecker is carved from basswood and painted.
woodpecker.jpg

Sorry about the lighting, I was in a hurry so just snapped a couple shots by the window with the curtain as backdrop.
I may try a few more birds for the annual batch. It sure was nice to be at the lathe again.

[Roger Chandler]

These are cool, Maria!

[Mel Fulks]

I've always liked to see wild life live like people. I'm sure I would not be scared by a wild bear ....if he was wearing a vest and tweed jacket . Naked bears can be dangerous. Good of you to help AWARE. I would give the owl a little paint in the eyes to better compete with the woodpecker

[Maria Alvarado]

Thanks Roger.
Thanks Mel. I went back and forth over painting the eyes, then decided to keep with the minimalist/stylized form for the owl. They will be placed in different sections of the gallery, I'm told, so hopefully each will stand (perch) on its own .

[daryl moses]

Very nice! I like them a lot!