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I discovered my gift for art in junior high when I was given some clay and asked to create something. Some time later the same was asked, but with wood. My first project was not pretty mainly because I had a hard time thinking of what I would cave. I decided a face, this proved to be simple in the sense I could relate with the feature I was to transform the wood into. I discovered I like working with wood. It was a process of elimination to reveal the hidden shape. I have not produced many sculpture in my time, however the few,  have turned out quite impressive

The horse
This has an interesting story. My wife worked at a home for recovering alcoholics. On her way to work each day she passed by an art dealer. Being an artist herself she would view the articles showing and one day she noticed a sculpture of a horse with moving part. She went in the store and acquired about the horse. The store keeper gave her some background on the sculpture and the cost. It was sculpted by an art teacher in the early 1900's as an aid to his students for drawing. My wife fell in love with it, mainly because she love horses. She came home that evening and expressed for us purchasing it. I was not sure we could afford such an item since the store asking $1000 for it. We discussed the options on how we could obtaining the funds to purchase the item. We agreed to a solution. So, the very next day on the way to work my wife rushed in the store to make arrangement to purchase the horse, only to find out that the horse had been sold earlier. She was overwhelmed with disappointment to have missed out on a treasure that capture her heart. The store keeper was apologetic and offered a picture of the item he had taken sometime earlier. My wife accepted the picture to show me what we had missed out on and brought it home with the sad news.

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My wife birthday was coming soon about 3 weeks. She was so broken from the lost. and I though, this would be a perfect gift if I could get her that horse she wanted so much. Well I decided I could try to mimic the sculpture and present it as a gift. I obtained the picture she brought home and studied it carefully. Then I tried to understand the mechanisms at work, making the parts move and how they would be made. So I began by researching the anatomy of horses to understand the joints and the shape of the horse. Then I produced some sketches of the horse and the parts that would make-up the horse. The neck was my greatest challenge sing I had little experience in such mechanism. From my wife descriptions I was able to make out that is was a wire that held the neck together and allowing it to move fluently in all directions. I tried some models, till I came to the right type of materials to do the task. Now it was time to begin the carving. The picture I provided do not lend themselves to the details of the moving parts, however imagine a horse and how it moves about. Each parts where made individually and assembled together for carving into shape. I used wood rasps and files for the shaping.  My attempts to keep it a secret and reasons given for going out where mysterious, I was not very convincing. In the last week the detail finishing was less than complete, and her birthday had creep-up on me and I was still not complete. So, I decided to show my wife a preview on her birthday of what was to come. When I unveiled the horse she was at aw. This was probably the best gratifying feeling I had experienced to see someone who I cared about have a restored joy as if she had found a lost item she had loved so much.
This is a testament to the saying "if you put your mind to it anything is possible".

For those who mite like to try making their own I have some detail drawings that may help the process. I ask one thing however. To not use the drawing for mass production.

The TROJAN
One day, my wife and I where shopping for a new couch. You know how they have mantels as part of the show room? Well in this case, there was a sculpture of a horse above a bedroom headboard. My wife particularly liked this sculpture, again being a horse, she immediately asked if we could purchase it. Me being a cheap skate, I said no. My wife started to search into her purse for the monies to purchase the item, and did not find the sufficient funds to finance the purchase. She then proceeded to harass me to purchase the item. Personally, I was not fond of the sculpture, because it looked too much like a toy. I expressed that and, asked her not to harass me any more about the matter. Again her birthday was coming up soon, about 3 days. I decided again this would be a good idea to carve my own version of the sculpture she was so fond of. this took me one afternoon to produce.

Take a look at the original.  I was not fond of the look. My goal was to improve the look of the sculpture, to get it looking less like a toy and more of a mature display. What came to mind is the Trojan horse. I remember the Greek paintings of horses, proud looking. So this was the theme for this sculpture. I also wanted to give it a more elegant look to it.  What do you think?  Did I succeed? This was a fun project short and sweet.  My wife was surprised and delighted to see it. She found a good place in our living room on top of the main shelving unit by the main window.

Angel
This one is a copy of the original carved back in 85.  If I remember correctly I carved this with the intension of something in flight. This version is slightly different. With the original the tail was thinner and was a solid triangle.  At that time I was reading about EGYPTIAN mythology, and I remember something about the Egyptians might have been flying.  Their crafts where based on the pyramid theory.  This is why the solid triangle tail.  I decided to carve another mainly to display the shape for my recent vision.  

My recent vision inspired me to carve this because there is a relationship with this article and my new theory of flight.  I believe this shape perfectly symmetrical,  of course with some modification can will fly.  I will make this happen.  My new project influenced by this vision is the Ductling project.

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