Chickadee

For several years I’ve created a special holiday card for family and friends. The vast majority of them were hand pulled prints including block and screen prints in multiple colors. The last card (2019) was created from cut paper pieces put through photoshop and sent to a printers to replicate. Holiday cards are special and made with love, but haven’t been quite as regular as in years past. This year I’m going for a little different attempt with, wait for it…, yes a totally different medium!

Pyrography, also known as wood burning, just recently popped into my life. I ran across a pet portrait artist on Instagram who does lovely images and it intrigued me. I happen to have a wood burning tool purchased for a different reason years ago and hasn’t been used but once a few weeks back to create signage for wool laundry balls.

Of course this is just a giant experiment for my brain to jump on. What if I burn wood? What happens when I add colored pencils over the top? Does that add to the look? Do I get greater interest from it? Possibly! When this particular image is completed, do I experiment with the same chickadee image in pastels? Cut paper? Ceramics? Felt? Life is one giant experiment in the making. I’m just swirling around on different eddies of artistic delight. Maybe someday I’ll settle down on one thing.

Hopefully, once the cards arrive, I’ll have enough to sell later via art events or online. The above photo is a progress image. I’ll post the final image after Christmas. If you’re on Instagram, you can see the completed image there @gale.everett.studio

If I don’t get in another posting before Christmas, I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season!