Thread: Echidna

Aaawwww it's a real cutey Rob. Your stand makes me smile everytime I see it. Really Brilliant!

Originally Posted by Featherwood

Aaawwww it's a real cutey Rob. Your stand makes me smile everytime I see it. Really Brilliant!

Thanks Germaine, A friend said to me I must have an Echidna included, I really wasn't that keen but I think it's easy seen what it is, Have you any suggestions on how you might have tackled the spikes? I'm more pleased with my stand every time I add something, it's coming up better than expected.

Hey Rob, I carved an echidna years ago just with chisel marks but it didn't turn out too good. I've pondered this issue on and off for years. My only conclusion is that it's a very prickly problem with no easy answer.
Maybe someone else has carved an echidna and would like to share their experience.

Hi Rob
I found that piercing the wood multiple times with a skew chisel gave a fairly convincing (to my eye) beard/whiskers effect. Thinking of this in terms of scale, whiskers could just as easily be seen as spines.

Philip.

Prickly problem indeed Germaine
Hi Phil, Sounds like a pretty good idea, the spines on an Echidna look quite thick though, I saw a hedgehog someone had done with V gouge marks, stained then sanded the tips for that white look, that's why I went down that path, I even thought about sticking match sticks in some how and sharpening the edges. I probably won't do another in a hurry.

It's more impressionist than photographic - but isn't that what the entire thing is all about?

I reckon you've captured the effect really well.

As Labr@ says, none of your critters are done in the 'realistic' school. They all capture the 'essence' of their subject well. There isn't one of them that any Aussie would look at and ask.. 'What's that?' Your echidna works really well in this collection. Both the concept and execution are great.

Thanks Labr and Whittling, My idea of carving the dirty feet for the stand was that someone taking a walk through the bush and then recalling all the animals they had come across, nothing to scale, just my version of the many wonderful animals we are so lucky to have in this great country.

Just the basic concept of the animal is needed. That gives the viewer credit for filling in the blanks.
Personally, I think that this is a damn difficult distillation of the key features of the subject =
what to include, what to ignore.

Over the years, I think that you are getting better and better at keeping the key points and to hell with the rest.

Besides the stylized totems, a lot of PacNW art is essential, not literal.

[Over the years, I think that you are getting better and better at keeping the key points and to hell with the rest.]


Thanks RV, well there was plenty of room for improvement from when I first started and after almost 5 years there still is, you never seem to stop learning in this craft. I still love the challenge and the creativity. Thank you for your comments and advice over the years.