Buzz Buzzard  is a character study of a caricature of an old man standing at the twilight of days with a gaze back in time to a younger time when spring was in his step and winter was a cold breeze far away.  Now the days have accelerated towards the winter of his days with only summer memories to warm his soul. At least that is one story this carving may be telling since the purpose of a carving is to tell a story to the imagination of the observer.

Buzz was carved out of a six inch tall block of basswood an inch and a half square. As is the case with basswood the color is not always a cream white, so this piece of basswood has a sweet tea color with some imperfections of grain coloration.  Such coloration lends itself to the aging process. A monochrome finish of artist oil paint Raw Sienna and boiled linseed oil mixed together enhanced the aging appearance of allowing the texture of the carving cuts be the color of character.  Follow the photographic journey to observe the sense of movement in the stoic posture, the pensive look on his aged face and his weathered hands guiding the joy stick of his walking stick.

These last four photographs illustrate how a scimitar blade can be maneuvered into areas where another blade shape would not be able to carve.

Buzz Buzzard is another example of the Whittle-Carving process of carving only with a knife.  The faceted cuts made by a slicing cut of the knife blade carves character into a piece of wood that results in a story being told by a carving that takes on a life of its own.  Buzz Buzzard lives on in each of us every day that we grow old with a face towards the breeze of winter.