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Well, that was an exciting and thrilling 2 days!  This was my first showing at this art show so I was not sure what was in store.  To my delight the show was a tremendous success.  In fact so successful, I need to put on my artist hat and get busy as I must "restock" my portfolio with new images.  I was also fortunate enough to engage several guests as clients for customized portraits of family pets. 

 

The venue is perfect for displaying the "rustic" nature of my art work.  Artists set up in the various cabins located at the Dana Brown Overnight Center amid natural surrounds of oak trees and hand-hewed log cabins.  The pathways are gravel and the autumn leaves are plentiful.

 

It was such a delight to talk with folks about my "brand" of art work.  Although I have a "typical" fine art/education background it was fun to explain this ancient technique of drawing as a more modern application.  I think the vast majority of young kids were exposed to wood burning as a summer camp craft.  We would learn that a magnifying glass directing a beam of sunlight would "burn" a point or  line on wood or leather.  Summer camps provided kids with the opportunity to learn outdoor crafts and wood burning was at the top of the list. They graduated to a wood burning tool connected to electricity for a more consistent and controllable "burn".  

 

In the ensuing years most of us never gave the craft a second thought.  However others decided to refine the process by introducing "variable" heat and the advent of interchangeable points on the pens that create different types of lines, textures and shading.  All of this resulted in more "control" of how to burn drawings, signs and other items.  I still find myself trying to convince "artists" that this is truly an art form.  Compare it to drawing or etching with fire verses pencil, pen and ink.

 

Initially i used burning with my wood carvings to give them more detail and textures.  However, after a series of back issues I turning to burning exclusively.  My goal is to promote preservation of the natural world, wildlife and rustic landscapes.  Barns and woodland scenes are my favorite subjects after wolves.  I try to donate a number of my wood burned wolf portraits annually to help organizations raise funds to protect wolves in the wild.

 

I hope to be invited back next November to the Shaw Nature Reserve Art Festival.  By then I should have a completely new portfolio of works to display.  Stay tuned and thanks for visiting my blog.