The unfinished cowboy bust I posted the other day, trying to get some feedback on the facial expression, is now finished. It is the last in a series where I was practicing some new techniques. This one is unique, for me, in several respects: usually I make my busts glass smooth (people have asked me if they are stone, ivory or plastic) whereas this one only has a smooth face while I left the tool marks on the remainded (actually, I inadvertently left some tool marks on the right cheek which is not noticeable except I saw it in these pics where it caught a shadow); I usually carve the irises and pupils or leave them uncarved for that "blind" look whereas here I painted the eyes; normally my busts are monochromatic (stained or just clear finished) whereas here I burned the hat brim and bolo (except for the turquoise color wash in the center). You will also notice the color on the hat and bandanna, this is because I stained it them with a waterborne English Oak stain. This procedure actually saved the bust, it almost hit the firewood pile several times. I had made a serious error when carving the hat and had to do a bunch of patching on it. This resulted in glue lines I could not hide. I wasn't sure whether the stain would eliminate the problem but it did. I almost went so far as to cut off the entire top of his head and replace the whole thing but the patchwork took care of the problem. Normally, glue lines always show up on a bust because rarely can you get a single piece of wood to do the sculpture and people expect to see them. In this case, however, there were three lines on the hat which looked odd and out of place.
If you want to criticize the work, feel free. It is, however, too late to do anything about it. A little later I will post pics of the series of busts (there are four) and you might see what I consider an interesting progression.
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Originally Posted by Tyler Howell
