Driftwood Swan

I walk the dog at the beach when I can, so I'm always on the lookout for inspiration and things to use.  To be honest there's not much that washes up there except junk.  Fortunately one day I found a rather inspiringly shaped piece of driftwood one day this winter.

I brought it home and let it thoroughly dry out.  In other words took it home and forgot about it, well not forgot, but more kept glancing at it and thinking I must find time to sit and do that.  Only not actually getting around to it.... until recently.

I used acrylic paint (I don't expect it to hold), then varnished it. I didn't like how the varnish glazed, so I used black enamel paint and white gloss for the main part. 

The image is before the glaze.  I then drilled a hole in the base and glued a wooden rod in, so I could stick it in the bushes in the garden. 

Yes that is a crazy heather bush, that has grown out of control.  Not much I can do with it, except keep it as it is and trim it every year.  Which is obviously something that was never done until I moved in.