‘Pheasant Vs. Fox’

By-Carter Watkins 2019

seed beads, beeswax, on acoustic ‘parlor’ guitar

This is the first piece of a trio of guitars with a ‘bird-conflict’ theme. On each guitar there is a common Texas bird- Pheasant, Red Tailed Hawk, and Roadrunner. Each guitar depicts an interaction between 2 animals- the bird and its predator or its prey, with complex and detailed landscape elements, climates, and fora.

This guitar is a functional* Recording King series 7- sunburst. Its a $100 guitar from Guitar Center. I liked the classic ‘parlor guitar’ shape of the body so i bought it with the intention of useing it as a canvas.

As for the art, I started this piece with the intention of doing a Nudie Cohn inspired western design. I started with this huge pheasant with those stunning tail feathers, I had no plan past the bird. Beading is such a slow process, it gives me time to brainstorm my next move while I work. After stepping back it looked like the pheasant was alarmed. So I did a little research on pheasants, this is where the whole ‘conflict’ idea came about. So I sketched out a fox creeping through some brush stalking the pheasant.