Wildlife In Wood

My new trailer with one of my more recent carvings, a Snowy Owl perched on a deer antler shed.	Welcome to Wildlife in Wood. I hope you enjoy viewing my carvings as much as I enjoy creating them. The original bird carvings I create are carved lifesize from a single block of wood or natural log. My carvings are primarily birds of prey... owls, hawks, eagles, osprey and other larger raptors. Other birds have also crossed my workbench in recent years including woodpeckers, ruffed grouse and loons. You will even find one recent carving of a lifesize Red Fox on my site! I carefully select each piece of wood used to create a new carving. Each piece of wood receives an extended 2+ year drying period before I make my first rough cuts. Two of my favorite carving woods are Butternut and Birch. Both of these species are beautifully grained and hold small detail very well! I sometimes work in other common carving woods... Poplar, Cedar, or Basswood. Plus I have created carvings using some of the local hardwoods... Oak, Walnut, and Cherry.
The carving tools I use are primarily the traditional handheld carving gouges, sweeps, V-tools and a mallet. Every carving is unique. Please take a few minutes and tour my website. Thank you for spending some time here!
My goal for each new carving is to create a piece of artwork that is unique, complete with the special hand-carved edges only found using this process. Click on the page The Handcarving Process to see how the tiny feather detail is achieved. I strive to make each carving feel lifelike. The glass eyes also help to achieve this goal. The individual veins of each feather are handcarved one tiny cut after another. A typical carving represents hundreds of hours before it is ready to be signed. The painting process I have developed uses thin semi-transparent layers of artist oils to achieve the deep rich colors of the bird. This process also allows some of the wood grain to show-through the colors. I try to average roughly one new carving per month. I normally spend anywhere from 4 to 8 hours carving every single day. A good day (8-10 hours) of detailing will cover roughly one wing of a smaller owl or hawk carving. Video of Carving Process	Cutting each individual vein into a feather using a V-tool.
NEW June 2013! Barred Owl carved from a large chunk of a hundred year old White Pine.	Some of the woodcarvings displayed on this site are commissioned pieces or have already been sold. I continue to post photos of new pieces as they are being created. Some of my recent 2013 woodcarvings include; a Saw-whet Owl, a Barn Owl, a Barred Owl, a Boreal Owl, two different Snowy Owls and a stylized Owl carved from Walnut that I call "Midnight". One other unique piece is a stylized relief carving of an owl peering out of his forest home. I'm also just starting on two different Red tailed Hawk carvings that customers have ordered. My carvings can be found in homes and businesses across the United States from Washington State, to Arizona, Montana, Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, Illinois, Kansas, Ohio, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachussetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin and also Canada. If you are interested in owning one of my original carvings please contact me via email or phone for a price and estimated completion date.
Thank you again for visiting Wildlife in Wood. I hope you enjoy viewing the original handcarved art I have created. Please sign my guestbook before you go. Barry W. Benecke artist/carver Saint Germain, Wisconsin
NEW September 2013! Screech Owl carved from Birch. NEW September 2013! Saw-Whet Owl carved from Birch. Pileated Woodpecker carved from a solid piece of Birch.	NEW July 2013! Red-Tailed Hawk carved from Oak. NEW June 2013! Snowy Owl perched on a burnt stump. A large piece carved from Butternut. NEW December 2012! Osprey carving.