Why I burn…

Woodburning has amazing expressive potential especially for portraiture and subjects that are naturally dramatic. Rather than laying color on a surface, in a pyrograph all the shades are wood itself, affected by heat, burnt to varying shades black-brown to near white, subtly traversing all the variations of the color (and grain texture!) that wood is. Usually wood presents a natural spectrum of flesh tones to begin with, and since I have always been inclined to draw faces above all, it was a perfect union of impulse and medium for me. It is wonderful to work with a natural material like wood, both sensuous and elemental!

Why Faces?

The late Irish poet and writer John O'Donohue says it most beautifully for me: “In the human face, the anonymity of the universe becomes intimate. The dream of the winds and the oceans, the silence of the stars and the mountains, reached a mother-presence in the face. The hidden, secret warmth of creation comes to expression here. The face is the icon of the creation.”— from Anam Cara