Trout carving (Fluidity)

Fluidity:

Fluidity can be shown here in various ways. What came to mind to me on how to portray fluidity and movement was simple; use what mother nature gave to you. Now, mother nature gives us alot which was a problem. I could not think of a unique way to show movement.
One evening, out of my canoe, I saw an bass jump out of the water by some cattails trying to catch a snack. And that’s where it hit me; and this is what I came up with.
What we have here is a 14” trout lunging out to catch it’s dinner. The trout was carved out of a stock of figured birdseye hard maple. Finished with a coat of danish oil and two coats of high gloss poly to represent the fish as being wet. The dragonfly was made out of oak burl and had the same treatment as the maple. The cattail was developed from redwood and maple, which was also finished off with danish oil but no poly. The base is an slab of an oak burl I harvested nearby also finished with about 6 coats of high gloss poly I used the burl to give motion to the “water” which really set it off. Birdseye maple was an easy choice because of the eyes. It gives the trout the spots without painting them on. The cattail was originally suppose to be cedar but at the last minute I change my mind and used redwood which I thought would give a great contrast against the maple.

This was my first real carving ever and I sure did learn a lot. This is also my first contest entry! Thank you for looking!

-- Hold on! Let me get the board stretcher!