CONTENTS
Page One:
- Brian Warburton: Drawing with Fire
- Sue Burne: A Life Filled with Art
Page Two:
- "carbón's" New Website of PyroSculpture on Leather
- Abby Levine's Latest Project
- From St. Petersburg, Update on Michael Janson
- Celtic Harps of Old--and New!
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Rahul |
A talent for drawing like Brian Warburton's does not come along often.
What is even more unusual is that he did not discover it himself until
he was 42 years old! British artist Brian Warburton from S. Wales, who is another
friendly face on our IAPA message board, loves realistic art. Soon after his
first pencil drawing at age 42, he enrolled in a painting class. When, to
his dismay, his work was criticized as being
"too realistic," he realized his personal goals were not being
served and struck out on his own to develop his technique. He continued as
an autodidactic amateur painter for the next ten years, until illness put a
halt to his artwork.
Thanks to an encouraging e-mail from artist Denton Lund, Brian started doing
art again, for which he expresses eternal gratitude to his friend. It
wasn't until the first of May 2003 that Brian decided to try
pyrography--with a portrait of the famous Native American warrior
Sitting Bull rendered on plywood. He began studying the
work of pyrographers that he admired--"no one more than Dino
Muradian," he says--and then he found a mentor.
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Patricia Decorus |
"Dino has been a major influence in my work," Brian says,
"and has been kind enough to give me guidance in my art. I was
once told that my work was 'very reminiscent of Dino's style' which I
regard as the greatest compliment. I hope that eventually my own style
will evolve in this fascinating art technique."
Within the realm of realism, Brian's favorite kind is portraiture. He
says he loves doing faces that "have a story to tell." And he
sees stories in the "wrinkles of a worn face or the eyes of a
child." Through the eyes of Rahul, the slum child
pictured at the top, you see the story of a youngster who knows
hardship. With a bicycle rickshaw, his father makes a living for
Rahul's mother, Rahul, and his six brothers and sisters. Brian also did
a portrait of Rahul's brother Shiv Kumar, which you can see on Brian's
own internet photo album site at www.picturetrail.com/brianart.
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Apache Tsahizn Tseh |
Tool. At Dino Muradian's recommendation, Brian has switched to
using a Weller solid tip tool for his work. He has found that he can
work much faster and more fluently with this type.
Wood. Brian has also stopped using plywood panels and started
using solid sycamore plaques, which he feels bring out the best in his
technique. He notes that, because it is difficult to get sycamore
plaques wider than 7 inches, he is confined to working in a small format
(approximately A4 or letter size).
On the Subject of Subjects. In addition to mentioning that
portraits are his favorite, Brian notes that what is important to him is
having a certain feeling for a subject before he can burn it. He says,
"If I don't have this feeling, the dissinterest shows up in my
work. This is one of the reasons that I don't do commissions."
All that being said, however, he ends that thought by declaring,
"Also, I have an untold number of works planned in my head
already."
Technique. Brian reminds us that portraiture, too, is nothing
more than line and shade. When people write to him expressing their
difficulty with portraits, Brian looks at their work and sees wonderful
examples of line and shade in other subjects. He says, "Basically,
that's all any monochrome painting is, line and shade. Once you have
mastered that, you can paint or draw any subject. That's all we are
doing really--painting or drawing with heat."
"When I'm doing my work," he continues, "I turn the
plaque in all directions to make the burn go on more fluently. Perhaps
that is what people who say they can't do faces should do: turn the
work upside down. It might not be so inhibiting for them that way."
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Wolves |
In his original composition of a pair of wolves above, Brian once more
shows his expertise in portraiture, even when it comes to animals. Like
many pyrographic artists, Brian expresses his annoyance with an art
world that would call his drawing in pencil or charcoal 'art' yet refer
to the same subject done in pyrography as 'craftwork'. (The words he
used: "ridiculous hypocrisy!")
His advice to any beginners is: "Find the burner that suits you
and practice shading on a scrap piece of timber until you get from the
bare wood at one end to pitch black at the other, blending the different
shades together as you go."
As for the future, Brian says, "When I look at my first burn
Sitting Bull, and Crying Petals done 12
months later, I can see how far I've come in a year. I hope that I can
continue to progress until I reach the standard I want, whatever that
is."
He offers to all of us a lesson learned and tells this story:
"When I had finished Crying Petals, I'll admit that I
was vainly feeling very confident of praise from someone whose pyro
artistic opinion I value the most. The E-mail arrived with the simple
message 'Petals is nice, but you can do better.' After the initial
disappointment and my vanity well and truly put in its place, I
understood the meaning in the message, which has become the best advice
that I've ever been given for improving my art: 'Your last work
is not your best...the next one is.' Thanks again, Dino. :-)
"
See more examples of his work in the Brian
Warburton Salon in the E-Museum of Pyrographic Art.
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Sue Burne |
British artist Sue Burne lives in a small village in Somerset
in the Southwest of England. However, she grew up in Lyme Regis in
Dorset and still feels the westcountry is very much her home.
Sue has always loved art. She says that it's in her blood. She says
this because her great grandfather was from a family of ecclesiastical
woodcarvers, and his daughter (Sue's grandmother) always told Sue that
she took after him. While at school, Sue studied Theatrical design with
the thought of one day becoming a set designer. She also learned
calligraphy.
After leaving school, Sue studied for a BA Hons degree at Ealing College
in Modern European Studies, then went on to St. Luke's College in Exeter
for a postgraduate teaching certificate. She taught in a primary school
for 7 years, where she says, "I met my fellow teacher and later my
husband Pete. My classes were mainly 9- and 10-year-olds and we used to
really enjoy doing very big artistic projects!"
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Platter No. 2 |
"Wherever possible, Sue says, "my art reflects my love for
the countryside and for the sea." Her clever contemporary
platters like the one above are striking examples of that inspiration.
Sue's elegant compositions are remarkable for their originality. Each
platter's composition offers a spontaneous yet compatible blend of
geometric and organic forms in fluid colors on the rim. Yet the rims
are not like usual borders at all! The rim patterns are carefully
integrated into the plate's composition using strands of pyroengraved
lines that run through the central portion continuing the pattern while
suggesting wood grain and water at the same time.
Sue explains how she does them: "I use acrylic inks for colour on
the platters because the grain shows through. The designs are fairly
loose doodles, but I love the sort of shapes and forms that appear in
nature so they often resemble pebbles or waves or vaguely plant shapes.
I follow the grain of the wood and add extra lines where I feel they are
needed. Sometimes the grain of the wood suggests hills or the sea to
me."
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Sleeping Dragon, detail |
Sue surrounds herself with decorative arts and crafts of various types, and, as you will see here, dragons are an oft recurring theme. She has become so familiar with this subject that her dragons become real characters. Not only can they be seen in typical dragon-like poses, but the one above, for example--her favorite pyrography dragon--is sleeping contentedly, enjoying sweet dreams. Her other favorite dragon is the glass Sea Dragon she is holding in the picture at the beginning of this segment.
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Scottie's Book |
Tools. Sue works with two pyrotools. "My husband
Pete," she explains, "has always encouraged me, and it was he
who bought me my Janik G4 [solid tip] pyrography tool several years ago.
This is still my preferred pyrography burner for many projects, because
a lot of my work is deep pyroengraving. I also own a very good hotwire
machine (a Davan from Wales), and this is especially useful if I am
demonstrating at the occasional craft fairs, which I do."
Since Sue also does glass engraving, I asked her about that and whether
she has ever tried pyroengraving on glass. "Three years ago, she
said, "Pete gave me a glass engraving drill for my birthday because
he thought glass engraving might require similar skills to calligraphy
and pyrography, which is true. I haven't tried pyrography on glass; I
suppose I hadn't realised it might even work, so I will have to
experiment."
Woods. The grain in rubberwood is particularly pretty for the
platters that Sue designs and it has a nice cream color as background
for her colors. She buys her eco-friendly Rubberwood platters
readymade. (Note that rubber trees only produce latex for about 30
years, at which time they are cut down and new ones planted.) Sue's
boxes are generally of European sycamore, which is a wood considered
ideal for pyrography in the U.K. She also did a fairy frame, which you
can view on her own internet site at: tinyurl.co.uk/291b. (One of the
myriad little people from her fairy frame can be seen at the bottom of
this page, walking towards page 2.) Her frame was rendered in tulip
wood, which is not only lovely for pyrography but which works
particularly well for her husband Pete's wood turning, too.
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Dragon Box, front view |
"I particularly enjoy combining my various art forms, i.e.,
pyrography with calligraphy or engraving with calligraphy. I get
commissions in all these, so this makes life varied. I am trying to
make all my work more professional and do more that is applied art
rather than basic craft items; however, I do a few craft fairs (usually
at Christmas) when I sell inexpensive things."
"In the future I hope to improve my techniques and create more
individual pieces of art like the platters and my glass engraving."
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Platter No. 3 |
Although she is not earning a living from her art work, Sue does make a
supplemental income from selling her pieces on commission and doing
craft items to sell at Christmas fairs. She often makes gifts for
family and friends, as well.
Sue left full time teaching when her daughters were born but has been
able to devote herself to her art ever since her younger daughter began
school. That was when Sue took the opportunity to attend a full-time
art course for a year, as well.
Her calligraphy she has taught to adult education classes and to
children at an after school club. In pyrography, she still does
demonstrations from time to time and is a familiar participant at the
on-line IAPA message board and the UK Pyros mailing list where her friendly
messages are always welcome. She was featured in the December
2003 issue of Craftsman Magazine. Sue still works in all
the media she has always enjoyed: pyrography, painting, glass
engraving, and calligraphy.
See more examples of her work in the Sue Burnes
Salon in the E-Museum of Pyrographic Art.
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2004, Kathleen M. Garvey Menéndez, all rights reserved.
