I received this wood carving of a right whale this weekend. It's 55cm long (almost 22 inches).
The same artist in Ogasawara who carved a baby humpback whale and sperm whale for me made this beautiful, one-of-a-kind masterpiece. It took him many months, close to a year-and-a-half I think, with one do-over due to wood cracking during the initial carving process.
Believe it or not, he's never seen a whale in the water. Yet, he has somehow managed to capture the spirit and essence of each cetacean he's created for me. I love his work.
While I'm sharing pix of some of my whale stuff...here's a snapshot of my keyboard cover:
Yes, it's a baby blanket (I can picture the smirks and hear the wisecracks, so there's no need to comment).
Guess it's kind of obvious I suffer from cetacean-on-the-brain syndrome, huh?