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New stuff! Website, e-edition, and Wings on the Water!

Title: Editor's Column
Type: Article
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Cover Spring 2012 

EDITOR’S COLUMN

 

 NEW STUFF

 

  By Tom Huntington

 

Wow! We have all kinds of interesting activity going on here at WILDFOWL CARVING MAGAZINE world headquarters. The first thing I want to tell you about is our new book, Wings on the Water:The Great Gallery of Ducks, Geese, and Loons, a collection of reference material about our web-footed friends. If you love things that quack, honk and do whatever it is that loons do, this book’s for you. We’ve combined reference articles from past issues of WILDFOWL CARVING MAGAZINE with an incredible collection of photographs by Steve Maslowski to give you a close-up look at more than two dozen water birds. You can get a sneak peek in this issue’s reference article on the goldeneye. Imagine a whole book like that! Even if you don’t carve ducks Steve’s gorgeous photos will bowl you over. So check it out!

wings on the water cover

 

Books have been around for a long time but we’re also rolling out something a little more new-fangled. Starting with this issue, WILDFOWL CARVING MAGAZINE will be available in a digital format. We’ve partnered with a company called Zinio to create our e-magazine, which will be a complete version of the print edition that you can view on your phone or tablet or download to your computer to use wherever you need it. If you want to print out some pages and bring them to your workshop, bingo! No problem. You’ll also find it easy to search all of the magazine contents. Our overseas subscribers especially will welcome this e-zine. Instead of waiting long weeks for the latest issue to wing its way across the seas, the e-version will zip through the ether in no time—without any pesky additional shipping charges. You can find a link to the Zino site on our home page.

 

And speaking of the website—that’s the third thing I want to talk about. If you've come this far you've probably notices that our website looks different. This new, improved site will allow us to post pictures and videos from the latest carving shows, add “master class” video demonstrations from the world’s top carvers, and even launch a special WILDFOWL CARVING newsletter. Of course, we have to find time to get all that stuff done, but at least now we will have the platform to support it. The new site also includes all the things you’ve come to expect over the years, including our handy searchable index and our product pages. So whether you like ink-on-paper or bits and bytes, we have something new for you.

  

This article appeared in Wildfowl Carving Magazine's Spring 2012 issue.

 

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Just because it looks like a clown doesn't mean you can't take this seagoing bird seriously.

Title: The Puffin
Type: Article
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 REFERENCE<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />THE PUFFINBy Rick BurkmanThere is somethingmagical about puffins and their auk family kin, the dovekies, guillemots,murres, and razorbills. These birds receive no praise for the beauty of their songs,win no awards for nest weaving, or score any points for grace as they franticallyflap over the water or waddle across rocky landscapes. The puffins took adifferent path from other birds, trading beauty for a gaudy nose, unneeded songsfor grunts and croaks, and grace in the air for a beautiful combination of formand function below the surfaces of the oceans. Watch them glide between giantsea fronds or bob on ocean waves and you know that, despite the feathers andwings, these birds belong to the world of water. Read the rest of this article in Wildfowl Carving Magazine'sWinter 2012 issue.

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Title: Editor's Column
Type: Article
Content:

EDITORS COLUMN<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> NEW STUFF By Tom HuntingtonWow! We have allkinds of interesting activity going on here at WILDFOWL CARVINGMAGAZINEworldheadquarters. The first thing I want to tell you about is our new book, Wings on the Water: The GreatGallery of Ducks, Geese, and Loons, a collection of reference material about ourweb-footed friends. If you love things that quack, honk and do whatever it isthat loons do, this books for you. Weve combined reference articles from pastissues of WILDFOWL CARVING MAGAZINEwithan incredible collection of photographs by Steve Maslowski to give you aclose-up look at more than two dozen water birds. You can get a sneak peek inthis issues reference article on the goldeneye. Imagine a whole book likethat! Even if you dont carve ducks Steves gorgeous photos will bowl you over.So check it out! Books have beenaround for a long time but were also rolling out something a little morenew-fangled. Starting with this issue, WILDFOWL CARVINGMAGAZINEwillbe available in a digital format. Weve partnered with a company called Zinioto create our e-magazine, which will be a complete version of the print editionthat you can view on your phone or tablet or download to your computer to usewherever you need it. If you want to print out some pages and bring them toyour workshop, bingo! No problem. Youll also find it easy to search all of themagazine contents. Our overseas subscribers especially will welcome thise-zine. Instead of waiting long weeks for the latest issue to wing its wayacross the seas, the e-version will zip through the ether in no timewithoutany pesky additional shipping charges. For more details about how to purchaseour e-magazine, visit our website at www.wildfowl-carving.com. And speaking ofthe websitethats the third thing I want to talk about. Even as I type this weare busy completing an upgrade of wildfowl-carving.com. Our new,improved site will allow us to post pictures and videos from the latest carvingshows, add master class video demonstrations from the worlds top carvers,and even launch a special WILDFOWL CARVINGnewsletter.Of course, we have to find time to get all that stuff done, but at least now wewill have the platform to support it. The new site will also include all thethings youve come to expect over the years, including our handy searchableindex and our product pages. So whether you like ink-on-paper or bits andbytes, we have something new for you.This article appeared in Wildfowl Carving Magazine'sSpring 2012 issue.

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Rule number one: There are no rules. rule number two: See rule number one.

Title: Less Is More II
Type: Article
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 DEMONSTRATION<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />Less Is MorePART TWO: PAINTINGBy Frank WernerMost of us think of abstract art as involving imageswhich have no relationship to reality, but in the hands of many old time decoy makers,it was just a means of saying more with less. They painted their decoys withbold plumage patterns replacing individual feathers and sometimes entire feathergroups. They didnt see a need for blending. Their colors were distinct and onecould make them out at a distance. KennethAmes book Beyond Necessity: Art in the Folk Tradition suggeststhat many pieces of folk art, particularly functional items, were made betterthan necessary. I cant really define what may or may not be necessary for adecoy other than that I should be pleased with how it looks. I like shapes andcolors that you can see from far away. There are no rules. Read the rest of this article in Wildfowl CarvingMagazine's Winter 2012 issue.

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Al Jordan takes on the task of recreating a specific red-tailed hawk for its former owner.

Title: Hunting Partner
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 DEMONSTRATION<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />HUNTING PARTNERBy Al JordanMy fascination with the red-tailed hawk began duringmy apprentice years as a falconer. Up close and personal, this magnificentcreature never fails to amaze me. The red-tailed hawk gets little respect inthe raptor world yet it has a tremendous amount of power, beauty, and grace. Icreated the piece in this article for a fellow falconer. It is a life-sizereplica of his former hawk (Catch). After several years of hunting with hisfeathered partner, the owner released the bird back into the wild. The carvingbrings back fond memories of this graceful hunter. Todevelop the pattern I spent several sessions photographing the bird from everyangle and I used the photos to come up with the patterns. All this reference wasnecessary for this project, since I wanted to capture a specific bird and notcarve just a general example of the species. Thepatterns included with the article are approximately half life-size. I sayapproximately because the sizes of red-tailed hawks vary widely. The length canrange from 18 inches to as much as two feet and their weight can go from 720 grams(about 25 ounces) up to 1,450 grams (a little more than three pounds). Read the rest of thisarticle in Wildfowl Carving Magazine's Winter 2012 issue.

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Use your painting skills to commemorate a bird that vanished--the passenger pigeon.

Title: Out of the Past II
Type: Article
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 DEMONSTRATION<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />OUT OF THE PAST PART TWO: PAINTINGBy Dave HarmonThere was a time when passenger pigeons ranged fromFlorida to southern Canada and from Montana to almost the East Coast. Now theyare extinct. But even with an extinct species carvers need good sources ofreference. A simple Internet search will give you a multitude of pictures andsources. The passenger pigeon was also a popular bird to paint for artists.Passenger pigeon study skins and mounts are somewhat abundant, considering theage of the birds. Check with local museums. Ive included several pictures Itook of study skins to provide some answers in some tricky areas.Aswith any bird, the colors vary among birds and differ according to the seasons.Use your sources to decide what you want to do and then go for it.Read the rest of this article in Wildfowl CarvingMagazine's Winter 2012 issue.

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Ashley Gray's interpretive sculpture of a great blue heron is truly a work of art. the story behind the scenes is one of loss and inspiration.

Title: Hannah's Setting Sun
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SHOWCASE<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />HANNAHS SETTING SUNBy Jamie WelshAshley Gray began carving at the age of eight, butit wasnt until he began working with well-known carver and instructor RonBroadwater five years later that he fully began to realize his potential. Late,he received instruction from renowned carver and bronze artist Barton Walter. Obviously,though, he had innate talentduring his senior year in high school Ashley wasnamed Marylands top student artist. He also spent several months under thetutelage of flat artist Larry Lucio, father of World Champion Jason Lucio andnoted carver, Laura Lucio. He considers his time in their studio as one of themost rewarding periods in his carving career. In the 1990s, Ashley won manybest in shows and earned acclaim with an innovative one-piece sculpture of a blue-wingedteal pair, followed by another of a pair of ring-necked ducks. With his manyribbons and bestin- show wins, Ashleys credentials as a world class carver areobvious. But all of these achievements would not have been possible without theunconditional support and encouragement of his parents, Mason and Hannah. Itsto his mother that Ashley dedicated HannahsSetting Sun.  Read the rest of this article in Wildfowl Carving Magazine'sWinter 2012 issue.

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When you'e painting, color isn't the only thing that matters.

Title: The Value of Value
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 BEGINNERS NOTEBOOK<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />THE VALUE OF VALUEBy Del HerbertThere are manyaspects to wildfowl carving, including sculpting and painting. All require specificknowledge and skills. In my quest to improve my artwork I will frequentlyisolate a single parameter and try to improve it. In this article Ill discussmy efforts to improve painting skills by working with one parameter, value. When discussing color theory we talk interms of hue, value and intensity. Most references use a gray scale or neutralvalue scale to explain value. White is the highest value (10) and black is thelowest (0). With our artwork, objects that are in a direct light source willhave a higher value than those that are not. Things that are closer to our eyehave a higher value and those further away have a lower value. In this articleIll attempt to give dimension andlife to a painting using only theseprinciples. Read the rest of this article in Wildfowl Carving Magazine'sWinter 2012 issue.

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No need to go overboard when you want to fool ducks.

Title: Less Is More
Type: Article
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  DEMONSTRATION<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />   LESS IS MORE By Frank Werner      Ive tried to makethis swimmer decoy look like a duck going somewhere in a hurry, perhaps on theway to join the rest of his flock on the water. Sometimes Ill reverse-anchor acouple of swimmers to look like ducks that have landed downwind of the rig, andare swimming back in to join it. His head is similar to the one used in mycarving demonstration, Headlines, published in the Summer 2000 issue of WILDFOWL CARVINGMAGAZINE. Topographical names are in accordance withKortright, The Ducks, Geese and Swans of North America. As far as decoys go,this swimmer greenhead is relatively simple. I havent undercut the wingfeathers in the slightest; they lie flat against the body. The primaries and tertialsappear as a single unit and follow the contours of the outer scapulars. Emergentlines define the shape and location of topographic features. Read the rest of this article in WildfowlCarving Magazine's Fall 2011 issue.                    

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Brown creepers are not the stuff of nightmares. they are very nice birds--if a little preoccupied.

Title: The Creeper
Type: Article
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  REFERENCE<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />   THE CREEPER By Rick Burkman The name brown creeper (Certhia americana) maysound sinister, conjuring images of something hidden and hunchbacked skulkingthrough the pages of a comic book. But, in reality, brown creepers dont livein the dark and think bad thoughts, although they do appear a littlehunchbacked. They are actually inconspicuous, quiet, and endearing LBJs(birding lingo for Little Brown Jobs) that are entirely preoccupied with only thatsmall portion of the world directly in front of their bills (and, occasionally,behind, sideways, and up or down, as needed for safety). This little featheredQuasimodo blithely lets the world journey past as it flutters and flits fromtree trunk to tree base, intent upon its daily quest for bugs, caterpillars, spiders,and other tasty morsels living in the trees ecosystem. Brown creepers are sointent upon their purpose that they treat large intruders, such as you and me,as relatively insignificant intrusions into their daily affairs. Brown creepers have a characteristic behavior that isunique among North American bird species. After landing at the base of a tree,the little bird spirals up the trunk, going around and around, corkscrew-like, untilit reaches a height of 10 feet or so. Then the creeper flits to the next tree inits line of sight and begins the corkscrew hunt again. Just before the bird lands on a tree trunk, it flaresits wings and twists its body so that it can grab the base of the tree in avertical position with its feet on either side of its body, immediately readyto climb again. Watching a brown creeper flit from tree to tree is adelighttheir last minute twist in the air is an uncanny impression of a blownleaf twisting in the wind. The camouflage is so good that when real fallenleaves are skittering across the forest floor, this little bird can go entirelyunnoticed in the breeze as it gently flits between tree trunks. Read the rest of this article in Wildfowl Carving Magazine's Fall 2011 issue.