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Art tip: When the inspiration behind a commission is a grim poem about sailors dying at sea, you should avoid googly eyes on your fiber sculpture.

That said, I just finished another commission! This time the subject was a very serious albatross. Nothing too whimsical in this design since the recipient is a big fan of the Samuel Taylor Coleridge poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner — if you know the poem, you’ll understand why we went with a more somber, less cartoony bird.

The client who commissioned me gave me a photo of a specific albatross for reference. i pulled a few more images from the web to get a sense of the bird and went for a realistic interpretation of the subject. I was lucky enough to be there when the gift was given and it was a hit. Whew! I had some fun with Photoshop, pretending the seabird was out for a swim, and there are a few more studio shots in the gallery.