Carousel Flag Horse (for our American cousins)

[Dave_from_Toronto]

I finally finished my most recent carousel horse. It's about 10' long, carved from basswood and painted with acrylics. The basic pattern is from Jerry Reinhardt's book. I changed the attitude of the head and added the eagle/flag trappings from a picture in the book 'Painted Ponies'. This is the first horse where I have used a stippling technique for shading (before antiquing.)

http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/...amp;uid=731540

VERRRRY NICE, Dave! The antiquing looks grat.....makes me want to finish the one I've had, for a long time , half done in my 'to do' box !

Al

It is a wonderful blend of color and additional style elements. Extremely well done.
Congrats.

[Bandaid]

Great job Dave...I really like the antique look.

[Kenny_S]

Great looking horse! Love the eagle and flag and the antigue look.

Dave, Great looking piece, excellant job with the painting and antique look/feel, I never realized that carousel horse's had a decorative side and a plain side, I just assumed both sides had the same decorations. Above all, thanks for the 'Americanized' tribute, flag and eagle....Coffeeman

The reason behind the 'romance' (decorated side) and the plain side is that the fancy one was the one facing the outside of the carousel....the one everyone saw, and the reverse was toward the inside, hence no need to do all that extra work!

Al

[Dave_from_Toronto]

With the exception of England, the right side of the carousel animal (they're not all horses) is the 'romance' or decorated side since carousels travelled in a counter-clockwise direction and this was the side facing out (in England carousels travelled in a clockwise direction.)

As well since the animals were lined up in rows (2-4 per row) the inner animals were less decorated than the outer. Usually, on each carousel there was one lead or feature horse that was more elaborate than all the rest (although in a circle it would be hard to figure which one was the leader.) Most replica carvers concentrate on these lead horses.

[Lindy]

Dave that is a wonderful carving! Thank you for sharing it with us!

Regards,
Lindy

Great work Dave! I wish I had the patience to try one of those but am sure that even a miniature would simply end up with the two other unfinished projects on my desk.