Thanks guys...as my friend eightbore said, this is not a SxS. It's an auto (best one ever made in my view) and it's a Winchester. A waterfowl scene on the right and an upland game scene on the left have a long tradition on Winchester guns (and reversed by side they are on, they have an even longer tradition).
As eightbore said, I spent about six months searching for every vintage game scene and picture of scroll work I could find and thought long and hard about what I wanted. Ken and I spoke of the project many times, not just details of scratches and cuts, but also the overall appearance and impression we were looking for and how this would integrate with the wood and metal treatment in the completed gun.
My vision for the right side was an illustration of ducks into a farm pond. In discussion with Ken, this morphed into Wood Ducks (my idea) into a Cyprus swamp (his idea). In my view, you can provide guidance and overall aesthetic direction to an engraver and then you have to let them adapt what you are looking for to match their skills and the reality of illustrating on metal. I don't think its wise to try to tie an engraver's hands too tightly and deprive yourself of their artistry and experience.
Also as eightbore stated, the left side shown with short hairs and pheasant is only at an interim stage. Ken is currently finishing it up and there will certainly be the same level of background detail as the right side. There will be vegetation and old broken down fencing and a tumble down barn, etc.
Now, as far as ed1 goes, I am fairly certain his comments are not directed at me or this project but rather are a childish and crude attempt to strike back at Ken for his (and others) posted criticism of ed1's torch jobs. I find his behavior in this thread to be a consistent reflection of his character as demonstrated is the rest of his postings.
What the heck, below are two of the art illustrations that I gave Ken from which to initially work. This may give people who are contemplating commissioning an engraving job a least one example of input vs output between the client and the engraver.
Cheers all
Stephen Meyers