12/25

Well... Hope everyone is having a great holiday season... Been real busy with work, hunting, carving, painting, eating, sleeping, and everything else that goes along with living...

Here is a photo of some metal work that I have done last summer... and a photo of a Chickadee Christmas ornament that I made for are local carving club exchange... in which I received a great carving of a Santa head...

Now that 2010 is almost over, some look at the new year as starting new, time for resolutions and wiping the slate of the last year clean.. ..

Most carvers look at the new year as time to get some birds done.. time to evaluate how your art form is progressing... time for some reflection... maybe a good look inward...

This is getting way to heavy, I better lay off those rum balls... HAPPY HOLIDAYS...

12/20

Well.. Been real busy with everything around this hoilday season... working and carving and painting and shopping and hunting and sleeping...

Here are some shots of the Pintails that I was painting.. tried to do a simple paint job, with some jazzed up areas... like I stated before, Pintails are not my bird... but this pair I kinda like... I would hunt over them if they were mine to do that with...

Glad they are done.. onto better things... got around 5 birds to float at shop tomorrow night...

hope they all float without much hassel... after floating and a day to dry out, then the painting begins...

I will keep you posted...

12/6

Well... was down stairs painting a Pintail... had Ron Smay over and he is painting a Wood Duck...

With carving and painting decoys, I know my limitation.. I have a hard time painting Pintails... they are just not my bird... but I'll keep trying.. some birds are just not fun to do... and some are... everyone has their favorite... that is why they make vanilla and chocolate..

Here are some shots of the Ugly Mug Club... only four members so far.. Mike P. is the president and keeper of the golden mug... Karl has just been voted in and waiting his turn with the goat...

the next seminar when we are all together should be fun... Rich is still waiting for a title... we will have to vote on that...

11/29

Well.. here in PA.. we are having the state hoilday of Buck Season... Schools are shut down, some stores are closed and everyone is wearing flo. orange.. tis the season...

Here are some shots of the white-tail buck that I harvasted at 7:10 this morning..

I know that this has nothing to do with carving.. but a buck like this in PA comes arounds not to often...

Now, I can spend more time moving wood.. because I do not have to move my ass to the woods...

On a other note.. my brother Rich also shot a buck in Md.. on Saturday... this was his first buck in 20+ years... way to go Rich...

Now back to painting...

11/25

Well.. Here it is Thanksgiving.. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.. were does the time go... winters coming and we are starting to ramp up at the shop... you can tell the weather is getting cooler and the days are getting shorter...

I got several projects on the go.. some gunners, some shorebirds, and starting to think about upcoming shows and contest..

Here are some shot of the regulars carvers.. Harly working on a shorebird, Ron working on a shorbird and Lynn working on a shorebird... It was strange everyone at shop the other night was working on shorebirds...

Now back to the basement to do some cleaning and the painting.. also working on some new shorebird patterns...

11/11

Well, we at shop want to thank all Veterans, here on Veterans day and every day..

Couple of good shop nights have gone by... people are showing up.. carving a little, exchanging hunting stories some ... and just general grab ass..

Here is some shots of a shorebird that I'm working on... first one is what I started the night with and the other is after a night of hacking wood away...

11/3

Well, My sister Jeri is here and pointed out that I am kinda of an idiot...
I posted the same picture of a mini Curlew...
I will try and do better... sorry to all my fans...

11/1

Well, A new month is upon us.. we are in the thick of things.. Hunting season.. carving some.. house work.. getting ready for winter.. thinking of upcoming shows..

Want to give a shout out to my friends in Maine... I know that you watching.. I'll post more stuff for your and everyone elses enjoyment..

Here is a shot of my wife Sue on a friend of ours (Carl Guay) "54" Harley Davidson Panhead..

Since she got a Harley this summer.. she thought that old school may be a way to go for her next bike...

Also a shot of a mini Curlew... carving some cork birds and working on a pair of Wigeon, that will end up in Wizconson... I'll take some photos...

10/15

Well, been real busy around here... did a little duck hunting this week.. going to a decoy auction tomorrow .. should be fun

Here a shot of myself in Maine with some geese that we coaxed in...

the other photo is a mini Curlew that I carved on a pourch in Cananda and painted in a garage in Maine...

see you can make birds anywhere.. that is the great thing about this hobby...

10/9

Well.. as my sister wrote, we are back... from Maine..

Didn't she do a great job as guess blogger.. please give her a hand..

and she was good to her word..said that knitting would end up on the blog and it did.. enough of that crap..

Here is a photo of the sun rise over the picked potatoe field in northern Maine, and the other shot is the results of a morning laying and waiting in the picked potatoe field..

My guide Russ Mount is posed with a limit of Geese.. first time he got to hunt out of the lay out blinds... we didn't even have time to fall asleep... maybe next time..

NOW back to carving...

10-08

Well, this is my last post as "guest blogger" for

Ross. I just heard from Ross and Sue and they are on their way home from the wilds of upper Maine. I promised Ross that I would make his blog famous as the only carving blog with knitting content. Here's a kinda dark picture of the socks I'm working on. I'm making them on size 0 needles using the magic loop method, two at a time, toe up. I'm just past turning the heel and am on my way up the leg. Facinating isn't it? I'm sure you're all looking forward to Ross getting back and reading about carving.

10-07

Dear Mom and Dad,

We are doing ok but we miss you terribly. Aunt Jeri still refuses to get up at 2 AM to feed us no matter how much we bother her. She pretends to be asleep but we aren't buying it. We were visited by Godzilla and his friend the bug eyed wood duck. I think he turned us into zombies. Aunt Jeri took our picture...What do you think?

Love and elbow licks, Chane and Zig

10-05

Hey , guess what? Ross gives gift certificates for his carving classes and carvings. Today I made a gift certificate for our favorite dental hygentist/carver, Lynn, to give to a co-worker for a birthday present. Evidently, if you put your hands in skanky mouths all day, you deserve a great present. So all you people out there (is there anyone out there?) it's the perfect present for someone who wants to learn to carve or appreciates a nice carving.

Today's pictures - a woodpecker and a nuthatch on a piece of driftwood that hangs in Ross's dining room and Ziggy doing what he does best - sleeping on MY pillow.

10-03 Our Mom

When my brothers write biographies about themselves, they always talk about the influence that Daddy had on them as carvers. That's true but they neglect to mention that our Mom, Connie, was also an artist. That's her, pictured with our Dad. She excelled in many crafts. When the older three of us (Rich, Jessie and me) were little, she made and sold ceramics from our house on High St. She was an accomplished seamstress and made many matching dresses and coats for me and Jessie. We were so cute. The pictures that I've put on this post show some of the other artwork that she did. The bittern and the cat on the brick wall are painted on the walls at the High St. house where I live. She has also painted wall murals at Ross's and Rich's houses. The picture of the little girl with the horse is a painting that she did for me to put in my office at work. It must have been her "Grandma Moses" phase. The idea for the painting was a photo of our grandmother taken when she was about 1o years old (1910). The photographer lined up their whole family in front of the barn (they were dairy farmers) and each person had the reins of a horse. The painting shows just our grandmother "Nannie" holding the plow horse, Barney, and the dog that shows up in all the photos from that time, Shep. Mom also painted lots of birds. Daddy was slightly color blind and didn't like to paint very much, so she painted some of his decoys for him. She was the artistic influence for the whole family and all five of us miss her very much.

9/29

Well, Here are some shot of some Green-winged Teal that I finished for a local hunter...

Cork bodies.. wooden head and tail...

Fun projects... carved these bird this summer and got to finishing them before our early season..

Going to Maine to sight see and do a little hunting...

My sister Jeri will be the guest blogger while I'm away... she has some idea what she is doing.. (be kind)...

Remember visit the website.. www.smokerdecoys.com

9/25

Well, Back from Canada ... I was on the yearly fishing trip to the wilds of the north Canada... had a good time.. caught some fish and ate too much.. slept and just relaxed on the lake... fishing was a little off this year we boated 520 fish for the week.. that was four of us...

but always a good time... already started planning for next year...

here are some shots of a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker that I finished... fun little bird to carve and paint... also a shot of the Raven head that I'm working on...

need to finish some Teal before hunting season...

9/10

Well, here is the next project.. another big bird. hopefully this will be a Raven...

made a pattern and did some research... got a study bill from Tony Finazzo... glued up some white pine... started removing wood...

This will be the last of the big birds until I start my world rig when I return from Maine in Oct...

Have a couple of ideas going around in my head... will start putting them on paper soon...

Don't forget to vist www.smokerdecoys.com

9-1

Well, been working in the paint room... just finished two set of mini Swans...

Swans are about 4" long and all have different head postions...

Fun little projects... mounted on a old barn board....

Doing some other painting on a Goldeneye and another Woodpecker...

Don't forget to check out the web site.. www.smokerdecoys.com

8/31

Well another shop night.. Here are some shots of the project I have been working on...

Some shots from the past seminar...

First is what a wood carvers space should look like... lots of clutter and several steps going on at once..

Number two is the Pileated Woodpecker I carved before the seminar and the one that I carved during the seminar..

Last is the Stilt.. the Stilt was fun project and had great lines.. just like a classic shorebird decoy should look like...

Shop was busy.. and the weather was warm... going to cut out a Raven next...

8/24

Well,
It has been real busy here the last two weeks.. with the seminar last weekend and work and house work and out to eat and shop night and etc and etc...

The seminar went well.. the folks really had to move some wood to get the Pileated Woodpecker project done.. first time I was ever nervours about getting students done at a weekend seminar... but they were troopers and left the building happy and most important with a finished bird that they made in two days..

Lots of sore hands after this one... not many cuts...

the Stilt project was great,, those people were done early.. I think We could do that project in one day if you hustled... but I'll save that for anothertime..
Now back to the grindstone...
Don't forget to check out the new website.. www.smokerdecoys.com

8/12

Well, another shop night.. and a busy one at that...

worked on a pattern with Rob.. he is going to carve a bird for the Chesapeke Challenge in Oct...

Harly started a red-winged blackbird..

As you can see I'm working on the queen of all woodpeckers.. this is a Imperial Woodpecker female in the rough.. had to do alot of research for the project to even start... hard to find stuff these particular woodpeckers... but this is how I see them... looking foreward to getting this one to paint..

www.smokerdecoys.com

8/10

Well, it is hot here and carving is slow... been working on some Woodpeckers and thinking about this fall when hunting season is here and we get to use some of these fine decoys that we carve...

Mark is working on the web site, he just added a album of photos.. check it out.. www.smokerdecoys.com

Going to have a seminar in a couple of weeks... will post some photos of that.. carving a woodpecker or a stilt... should be interesting...

7/28

Well, the latest thing that we are working on is a web site for my carvings...
My friend Mark Sullivan is the designer... he is also the guy that makes me run for miles on the weekends...
http://www.smokerdecoys.com

The web site well have a link to the blog and photos of carving and a tip page.. and just general info..

The page is under construction right now... but will soon be up and running for your looking and reading enjoyment...

7/26

Well, My sister Jeri insisted on getting her photo off the top of the blog...

So, here is a photo of a tattoo that I designed...

Some drawing, some research into different fonts for the letters... some more drawing...

Interesting process...

Now back to playing with wood...

7/22

Well, It finally happened.. "hi-teck"in the shop..

Here a photo of my sister, Jeri, trying out her WIFI to see if it works in the shop...

Now we can look up all kinds of picture and facts about the birds we are carving..

Maybe our work will get better, or maybe we will spend all shop night surfing the web...

Now back to hacking at a chunk of wood with a dull knife...

7/20

Well, Another shop night... here is a shot of Zack studying his GW Teal... just got done textured the base of paint... he will do some homework and then be ready to paint the bird... he is also looking at patterns to see what the next project will be..

The other photo is a Woodpecker that I'm carving for a upcoming seminar... Bird is cedar and white pine head.. should be done next shop night and then off to paint...

Rich and I are working together on an upcoming issue of Waterfowl Carving Magazine.. Bill interveiwed both of and took photos... looks like it is starting to work out...

7/13

Well,

Another shop night down... some carving got done.. some bull got shot...

Here are some photos of a Goldeneye hen that I have been foolin" with the finish...

Not sure if I like the effect yet... maybe some more secret ingredients...

Finished carving some mini Swans.. working on a Stilt.. and helping others with their projects...