'Are you Ready?'

Here's my latest little foxy drawing...created using coloured pencils with a painted gold edge...

'Moonwind'

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detail of 'Moonwind'

Pyrography v traditional drawing - The battle is on!

It's nearly a year since I bought my beloved 'Peter Childs' Pyrography machine..and what a year it has been! As soon as I started burning I was pretty much hooked..loving the feel of the wood, the burning smell, and the simplicity of this art form. I set up my facebook page - 'Hug-the-tree Pyrography' in March, selling a handful of Birch keyrings and a few small pendants with very simple designs on them. My goodness..I never would have believed that 10 months on the page would have over 800 followers! I have learnt so much over that period of time..gradually sourcing different woods..discovering how differently each type responds to burning..talking to other people who work with wood, creating more and more complex and detailed designs, and meeting so many lovers of trees, lovers of wood, lovers of art and craft through my facebook pages.
   A number of people have commissioned jewellery and 'Art Pieces', and I have discovered what a wonderful experience this is..when someone comes to you with an idea, sometimes only a sketchy idea of what they might want..or sometimes a long exacting list of what must be included - then the alchemy begins to take place..their idea, their creation being brought to life through my hands! How extraordinary!
    But..there's a but..
How to ensure that I have enough time left over for my first love..
My 'Enchanted Art' page is not as popular, nowhere near, as 'Hug-the-Tree'. For a long time it languished with around 180 likes. Gradually this has increased to quite a respectable 400 and something...mainly because I have been advertising it on 'Hug-the-Tree Pyrography! Nowadays I often find myself comparing the experience of 'drawing' on wood, and drawing on paper, and I'm well aware that these two different mediums have a strong effect on the art I produce. There's no doubt that the application of colour is an added complication..and introduces difficulties of shading which I can avoid almost completely in my pyrography by adopting a stylized design. Recently I have found more and more 'crossover' between my pyrography artwork, and my traditional artwork, and for me, one seems to enhance the other. But as the orders come in for more pyrography..which I am most grateful for as I depend on them for a living, I can't help feeling a little sorry for my Enchanted Art page sometimes as it sits in the shadow of its much more successful big brother!

'Bears Vow'

Here is a design I came up with just before Christmas, commisioned by one of my 'Hug-the- Tree' customers..It is pyrographed onto a piece of Sycamore wood.

'Dances with Flowers'

Well I'm on a roll with my foxy themed drawings...so here's another, again measuring 6 x 11cm..

'Dances with Leaves'

This is a very small drawing, created with coloured pencils. It measured just 6cm x 11cm...

'Hares Christmas Night'

Here's a very small coloured pencil drawing I made over Christmas...appropriately it was completed on Christmas eve...

Night-Fox

Tiny Fox drawing..measures 5.5cm..

'Autumn Mandala' Completed drawing