BIRD CARVINGS by DOUGLAS BECHLER

Welcome...After graduating HS in 1980, where I had studied Boat building.. I was a little lost, the economy was not good, and I was unable to find work. Eventually I had the idea to carve some waterfowl decoys, and sell them to the tourists. My parents were artists, and there were a couple carvers in town, so it seemed doable to me. After a while of learning by doing, I started to make some progress. Pam Pierce.. who was a friend of the family, showed my carved birds to the Churchill Gallery in Newburyport, MA. which was the best Gallery in town. It was pretty amazing really.. I worked constantly, studying, and fine tuning my craft.. Mostly I would make multiples of a line of Canada Geese I developed, with special projects mixed in. I would put more time, and care into each special piece, trying to make them lifelike. It was time consuming, and tedious, to the point where the piece that killed me, took 500 hours to complete.. I guess it had run it course anyway, but I had over extended myself. I had bought a house, which was a duplex in Rochester, NH. I needed more consistent money, so I started doing some carpentry. That was basically the end of the Bird age..