Beast Going Through the Grass

Ulysses Davis rarely made drawings or models before carving a piece. Working intuitively, he would create a rough form with a hatchet or band saw, and then use a chisel or knife to carve the well-defined shape of the figure. A barber by trade, Davis learned metalworking while employed as a railroad blacksmith. He used the blade of his hair clippers and homemade metal punches and stamps to give lizard-like creatures like this one their scaly texture. Beast Going Through the Grass is one of the few works in which he used paint rather than a wood stain. Here he defined the body of the beast with black, red, and white paint, as well as rhinestones.