Our polar bear journey is in the home stretch. I have completed the painting and blending, added color to the nose and claws. Three coats of clear matte topcoat have been applied and I have removed the paint from the eyes to make him look real.
  Although the carving is done it's not complete. It's time to move on to the base. In a previous post I talked some about wanting to add more realism to my carvings by having a more natural setting for the base. Since I started the carving project I have been kicking around an idea for a base. It may require a little experimentation on some scrap wood first but I hope I can pull it off.
  Before I start the base I will go back and carve another polar bear head to show you my process for setting the eyes. This time I will do my best not to delete the pictures, before I can post them. In the next week I will post on the eyes and base. I hope you continue to follow along, if not I want to thank you for taking the time to so this far.

As you can see here our patch has disappeared. Also notice around the nose area the very light gray blended into face.

 

Here is the completed bear, as he paitiently waits for the base to be constucted.