The World's Finest Penguin Decoys
Back to PenguinologyAdelies
Adelies nest on the stone beaches of continental Antarctica. Adelies are easily excitable birds and hasten to congregate with their flock to discuss anything new they see, such as an icebreaker. Adelies run in circles a lot. Their white eye rings, readily apparent in the enlargements, give them an open expression, in contrast to the mysterious and dignified emperors, whose eyes are difficult to see (it's a a photographic triumph if they show in the picture at all!).
Kings
To date, we've carved at least sixteen king penguins. The pictures herein show various attempts to get good pictures of these birds. Digital photography earlier in the process would have helped, perhaps; many of these are film photographs or slides and the originals are lost.
This picture of Pair of Kings may have been the first carving of this sculpture. I learned when it was done that I needed to be working much higher--chest height, and not attempting to carve on my knees with the carving at ground height. The perspective came out all wrong. The birds were recarved and lost a considerable amount of weight in the process. Now the studio has a number of hydraulic lifts that can position wood at better (not always ideal) heights for work with a chainsaw and other tools. (I still haven't learned much about not taking a carving to "final finish" before deciding if it needs more work with a saw.)
The king in the green garden above was photographed outside the Visitors' Center at the NC Botanical Garden, Chapel Hill, NC. I believe it was the first year I participated in the show, and I remember rushing to finish the bird over Labor Day weekend, which was very rainy and made the paint take forever to dry.
Emperors
Extinct penguins
Mating Dance was originally carved as a pair of courting king penguins, and the plumage follows king coloration. However, kings run to about 30" tall, and this carving is well over 60". Fossil evidence exists that supports ancient penguins this tall--they weighed about 300 pounds, which isn't far from the reality of this carving.