Bird Gourd: Elegant Trogon Family and Sycamore

"Elegant Trogon Family and Sycamore" is a stunning home décor item and fabulous piece of hand-crafted fine art. I leave near a world-renowned birding area, one of Arizona's sky islands called Madera Canyon. Madera Canyon is one of the few places in the United States where you can see the colorful elegant trogon. This piece was inspired by a scene I actually witnessed a couple years ago while hiking in the canyon. I found the nest tree for a breeding elegant trogon pair and one of the fledglings was there peering out, awaiting succulent insect dinners served by its parents. It was a scene that I'll never forget, always cherish, and feel honored to have witnessed.

As a tribute to one of my favorite birds, I carved three elegant trogons (a male, female, and fledgling) into a dried kettle gourd. Dried gourds are as hard as wood and can be carved, wood burned, painted and embellished. This is a one-of-a-kind creation. It is a beautiful piece that is sure to be a conversation starter. It will be a wonderful gift to the avid birdwatcher in your life.

Along with the trogons, this 3-D vase features deep, relief-carved sycamore leaves. The leaves swirl around the entire piece along with branches of this favorite trogon tree. A fledgling trogon peers out of a nest hole within the trunk of the sycamore. Mama trogon is on hand while Papa trogon stands ready to feed the baby its caterpillar supper. There are several layers of relief carving, complemented by cutouts and pierce work. The entire piece is hand painted in vibrant acrylic colors, including iridescents and metallics that echo the beauty of the trogons' plumage. The inside is painted black using acrylic paint.

I spent more than 36 hours carving, cutting, sanding, and painting this fine art. The vase is unique, beautiful, and you'll not see another one like it. All of the work including the design is original and performed by me. I have hand signed the art on the bottom of the bowl.

This is one of my larger gourd vase art pieces. The finished piece is about 10" in diameter and sits about 9" high.

My gourd art consists of one-of-a-kind pieces--whether they are ornaments or carved vases and bowls--depicting some aspect of nature. I carve and embellish freehand using gourds that are as hard as wood. I use lots of color and various artistic techniques to make my pieces come alive. I only make one of each design. When you purchase a piece of my gourd art, you have the only one in existence.

Working with gourds requires a lot of time and effort. First, I remove the outer skin of a farm-fresh, dried gourd with a scouring pad after soaking it in water. I use a miniature jigsaw to cut open the top of the gourd. I clean out the inside pulp and seeds using special scraping tools. I then hand paint the cleaned inside with black acrylic paint and let it dry. I draw the design on the gourd, first in pencil and then trace over it with a permanent marker. I use both a miniature jigsaw and Foredom flexible shaft rotary tool to carve and cut out the desired portions. Sanding finishes the product, and then I coat the entire piece with wood primer. I finally paint using acrylics and dimensional inks and markers. I touch up the inside of the piece again with black paint, and then spray the entire gourd, both inside and out, with a protective varnish.

This exquisite carved gourd bowl will come to you carefully wrapped in tissue paper in its own gift box tied with a fabric ribbon.

See more of my gourd art here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/HappyHummerArt?section_id=14568280&ref=shopsection_leftnav_2