Loonies Bench

One of the cottagers from the lake down the road had a white oak tree cut down beside his cottage. His wife & him love that tree but had to cut it down before it fell down, so he asked me to carve him something out of the trunk. His cottage has a sign that says the Loonie Bin & thats what they call the place, I could only imagin why?? lol. Well I came up with this idea, a loon on a bench (a loonies bench)

I started by cutting the trunk in half with the chain saw leaving a chunk where a branch grew out of it for the loon.

Next I brought out one of my early carved smaller loons for a model and with a wooden chair seat cutter that mount on a grinder, I slowly cut away at the loon. With this cutter I pat away at the loon, stopping to feel the shape of the model, then taking the grinder and petting out the shape of the loon. I also use a large roughing gouge to take off large chunk of waste.
Thats all I could do today! I will have to now take it into the shop, where I will draw it's wings and tail feathers with a thick black charcoal pencil then carve them with a V-chisel under the magnifier best I can. Last I'll flipped it over, drill out four - inch and a half holes for the legs made from oak limbs with the tops turn to fit the hole. I'll put up a picture when I get it finished, I have a few old pieces of furniture to strip & refinish first for the cottagers.