Gulls are People Too
Seagulls, as the term sea-gull would imply, habitate the sea. An indeed I have a file on my computer that places them in the classification under “shorebirds”. But it has been my experience that that is not quite accurate either. It seems to me I find as many of these guys in parking lots as on the beaches I have visited. Scavengers they are for sure. Along with crows, vultures, and other nefarious birds of this order, they seem to be wherever it is they can snatch their easiest meal.
Certainly I am every bit the opportunist myself, and have therefore found myself pausing in my car in the parking lot to watch them. I find it fascinating that so many flock together, but then fight each other over a single scrap of food. And then to see them move! Motion ripples through them like that of a wave crashing on the beach. It can be hypnotic. First all move in union in one direction like leaves in the wind, and then drift around individually back to near where they started. At some point I come to my senses and continue into the store for the purposes of my arrival. But the fascination for the bird does not leave my imagination. And, like most subjects I carve, it eventually emerges from the tip of my carving tools. So here he is …. The Seagull.
Bird Logistics
There is always a logistical nightmare in making sculptures of birds. What it comes down to is “strength of material”. The bulk of a bird body belies it’s weight. Feathers don’t weigh much, but they do command a great deal of “visual bulk”. If that bulk is represented in wood or steel or stone it will be very heavy.
Since birds walk on spindly legs commensurate to that weight, they do not remain that size and retain the same integrity to support the aforementioned denser materials. Then couple with this the fact that most bird species have an angular attachment of the leg to the body and the support issue becomes profound. But here in the case of the Gull the leg is quite vertical in its attachment to the body. In the case of wood sculpture this allow for the alignment of the grain of the wood with the legs. This allows that wood can be used at it’s full strength, which allows for a Gull to be carved supported on two spindly legs.
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https://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtistinWood?ref=hdr_shop_menu
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