This black-bellied plover, originally carved by William Mathews back in the early 1900s, is the second bronze rendition of one of my father’s watercolor paintings.  Dad had a reverence for these early bird carvers, given their ability to create such elegance in these working decoys with just the essence of detail.

To create the bronze, I carved the bird from a block of heirloom wood from the stash my father had left me and sculpted the base from a piece of stone from my rock pile.  I do believe dad is smiling down in approval of the collaborative effort.