A Few Favorites

[Simple Man]

You know, Squatty really likes this guy and there's no doubt he does good work. I had to go to Nashville last weekend for work, so went through Chattanooga and dropped 2 ducks off to him. Shane Smith is about 30min. outside Chattanooga in Bridgeport, AL.

He made special arrangements to be there on Sat. to meet me since he knew I'd be coming through. When he flipped the lights on in his showroom, my jaw dropped. Squatty still hasn't done this guy justice. He had just about every conceivable species of North American duck and several South American species on display. You can't really appreciate the detail in his work until you see it in person.

I left him with a surf scoter and Old Squaw. I left the poses up to him to finalize, and only gave him general directions for what I wanted. The surf scoter was to be diving and the Old Squaw sitting on a rock - simple as that. He took the ideas and ran with them, and I have no question that they will be what I want when I get 'em back.

In the end, we decided on a habitat scene for the surf scoter and the Old Squaw will simply be sitting on a rock. The surf scoter will be on a rock backdrop (wall-hanging scene) diving to a bed of mussels in black sand, holding one of the mussels in his mouth. There will be reeds with seaweed attached. The seaweed will be "flowing" to one side to represent water current. All of this was his idea, and he's never done one like it. He literally came up with all of this in about 5 min. on the fly. I can't wait to get it back, and it'll be another year.

I'm tellin' ya, Squatty still hasn't done him justice.....