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Dick McDonald’s father introduced Dick to the art of wood carving when the boy was quite young. Together, they created model cars before going on to “free carving” with a block of wood and a knife. Dick’s detail oriented personality led him to a career as a mechanical engineer. He also served for many years as a Boy Scout Master, during which time he made and used various types of walking sticks. Upon his retirement, Dick decided to combine his childhood talent of wood carving with the utilitarian walking stick to create art work.
Dick uses wood carving knives (no power tools) to meticulously remove tiny bits of wood to create his animal walking sticks. The filial (head) is carved from soft bass wood and the stick is native hard wood harvested on Dick’s property. A hard wooden dowel attaches one to the other. Using visual aids to achieve accurate proportion, Dick carves and paints as lifelike as possible. He does take liberties with his use of acrylic paints in order to exaggerate some colors for contrast. His walking sticks are sealed with exterior polyurethane so that they can be used as intended, out of doors.
Dicks’ creations are also available at the Grand Gallery, Demopolis, and the Rural Heritage Center, Thomaston.
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