Looking Up, Part Three

When most wildfowl carvers embark on a new project, they think primarily about the bird. It is just as important, though, to consider the habitat. The habitat gives the viewer a sense of place and setting and can be just as important as painting in making the piece come to life. Habitat helps your sculpture tell a story. Keep that in mind when you decide on the habitat for your carving. For the habitat and presentation for this project, I wanted to portray a red-breasted nuthatch the way I used to see the birds every day out my window. They would go down and around the pine trees, looking up from time to time as they searched for bugs in the bark.