It has been said that “clothes make the man” and in the case of carving a western figure it is the outfit that immediately identifies the carving as that of a cowboy, cowpoke or buckaroo.  In this case where two cowpokes are being presented they are called “Bunkhouse Buckaroos” to add a little flare to their presentation.  Each were Whittle-Carved using only knives to shape a six-inch-tall by an inch and half square block of basswood.

The first photographic gallery will present each buckaroo in its finished presentation with a second photo gallery showing some of the progressive stages of each one.

The first buckaroo presented has a black beard, front hat brim turned up, hands holding vest lapels and wears a two-gun holster.

The second buckaroo presented has gray hair/mustache, cigar in corner of mouth, left hand resting on top of rifle and other hand holding lapel of vest.

The progressive photo gallery begins with carving the hat and head going up into the hat following by drawing the body/outfit landmarks on all four sides of the block and then carving to shape and then details in progressive fashion.  Using each hat as the key for which carving is being featured in each photo the viewer can make the transition of the visual stages with imagination filling in the spaces in-between.

Painting of the buckaroos uses artist oil paint thinned with boiled linseed oil with the base coat of Raw Sienna and BLO applied over the entire carving. While the base coat is still wet after blotting off the excess, each subsequent color is applied with appropriate color of artist oil paint thinned with BLO and applied on top of the base coat beginning at the top with hat, then hair, then bandana, then vest, then shirt, etc. down to the boots.  The face and hands receive only the base coat the maintain the appearance of wood. The three photo below begin with the base coat being applied, with second photo showing the top half of each buckaroo receiving the secondary coloring and the final photo showing the two buckaroos painted in multicolor. The two Half Pint Scottish Golfers are for comparison of the base coat being the only finish presentation to illustrate that “texture is color” in a monochrome presentation. Click on PAINTING SOFTLY to learn more about this style of painting.