Gary has started his latest carving. He's always more intense and dedicated than I am, once he gets started. He carves for several hours at a time. I admire his determination.
So far he has rough-carved the base, the front and three sides of the canteen gourd that he will be constructing. He is doing a Mayan theme again.
This is the decorative shoulder that the gourd will sit on. It reminds me of a large hair barrett.
This is the rough base structure that will be assembed once everything is done. You can see the carved shoulder on the top.He had to do some infilling in the centre of the gourd where the
stem was, to make it level. The carving is very detailed and intricate. This is a fairly thick canteen gourd.
This is one side of the gourd. It has a Mayan warrior figure. 
This is the other side of the gourd. It is a very confusing carving, depicting the warrior being swallowed by a giant snake. If you look carefully you can see the body of the snake at the bottom. His jaws are spread wide and the head of the warrior is coming out of his mouth. Mayan carvings are quite disturbing!
To relieve the gloom and doom of the more complicated carving, the one across the top is more light-hearted and simple. It depicts a relaxing jaguar.He plans to insert another gourd inside to increase the depth of the carving, but we'll have to wait and see what that will look like. Stay tuned.
