
To learn more about my Forest Guardian series
Go To amandascottart.blogspot.com/2015/12/artist-statement-for-forest-guardian.html
Wood burning is as old as the Egyptians. They would use rods heated in the fire to burn images into wood tablets in hieroglyphic. They painted these with water colors made from plant, minerals, and clay.
I like making a fine, deep, line. It's like a carving, but more delicate, and it's immediately tinted a rich, dark brown. Burning a line into the wood takes much longer than painting it. You have to keep in mind how hot the pen is. It will cool when applied to the wood, so you must draw out the line slowly. If you pick up the pen and reapply it many times often it will show in choppy little strokes. It comes off looking a little fuzzy. To do a long elegant line you must go slowly, but too slowly the line becomes too deep and wide. If your pen nib catches on the grain of the wood, the pause will create a dot. Wood burning, or phyrography, takes time and patience, but the line created will never be destroyed.
The line I can create in this way is far finer than I can with a paint brush. I draw out the lines first and then paint oils over the top to create the modeling of the form, the shadows, or tones. I try to leave some burnt lines alone to express the idea of transformation, from the outline of an idea, to the
developed details of the face.
Go To amandascottart.blogspot.com/2015/12/artist-statement-for-forest-guardian.html
Wood burning is as old as the Egyptians. They would use rods heated in the fire to burn images into wood tablets in hieroglyphic. They painted these with water colors made from plant, minerals, and clay.
I like making a fine, deep, line. It's like a carving, but more delicate, and it's immediately tinted a rich, dark brown. Burning a line into the wood takes much longer than painting it. You have to keep in mind how hot the pen is. It will cool when applied to the wood, so you must draw out the line slowly. If you pick up the pen and reapply it many times often it will show in choppy little strokes. It comes off looking a little fuzzy. To do a long elegant line you must go slowly, but too slowly the line becomes too deep and wide. If your pen nib catches on the grain of the wood, the pause will create a dot. Wood burning, or phyrography, takes time and patience, but the line created will never be destroyed.
The line I can create in this way is far finer than I can with a paint brush. I draw out the lines first and then paint oils over the top to create the modeling of the form, the shadows, or tones. I try to leave some burnt lines alone to express the idea of transformation, from the outline of an idea, to the
developed details of the face.