Pyrography

By His Wounds

16″ diameter

Pyrography on basswood

I did this piece after watching Mel Gibson’s “The Passion”. The imagery of the movie was so powerful, I just had to try and capture that feeling. I entered it in several carving shows and received several awards for it including First Place, Best of Division, and Second Best of Show. It now resides in Komsomolsk na-Amure, Russia.

Into the Sunset

8″ x 10″

Pyrography on spruce plywood

I’ve always enjoyed sunset pictures. I like the play of light and dark, and I wondered if it was possible to capture that same feeling with pyrography. Different woods will “burn” a slightly different color, so by finding the right wood and picking a finish that enhances the color I found it is very possible to create the mysterious feeling of sunset. I have entered this piece in carving shows and have received several First Place and Best of Division awards.

How’s It Goin’?

9″ x 14″

Pyrography on basswood

I had started this because I liked the image and was interested in the shading technique needed for the horses. I had not finished it when I was asked if I could do a “wood burning” of a cowboy scene. I told the client I could and showed her this in its unfinished state as an example of what I could do. She liked it so much that she asked me to finish this picture rather than do the picture she originally wanted.

The Sentinel

3 3/4″ x 12″

Pyrography on cottonwood bark

This is something I did for myself. I just liked the way the man was standing and the overall composition of the picture. So I did my version of it in pyrography. Working with cottonwood bark is really nice. It burns nicely so it is easy to get the right tones to give depth to the image. And it takes details well. The biggest drawback is that it is not the strongest material around so it is easy to break pieces off as you work with it. However, with care you can end up with a very nice piece, as you can see from the 3rd place ribbon I got with it.