Trail Riders

Thomas Hart Benton is one of my favorite artists- I truly admire his style of work. The lines and shapes that he creates have this wonderful flowing and melting quality that are so distinct. This is a burning I did based on his painting, 'Trail Riders'. You might notice this has a similar quality to the landscape I burned into a side table- which I also use for my banner image at the top of my blog page- also based on a Benton painting. 18"x 24" on birch

Hancock 309 Gallery and Consignment

Last night SNAC had their opening reception at Hancock 209 Gallery and Consignment in Dorcester. I had some of my burnings on display along with this diptych which is acrylic on wood. The back story: I've always been intrigued by Edgar Allen Poe. When I lived in Providence, I lived on Benefit Street a few houses down from a historic home where a woman named Helen Whitman lived. She and Poe had an affair in which her family did not approve. So they were forced to meet in secret- directly behind her house was a stone staircase that led down to a cemetary where they would go to be alone. They never married due to the family feud, but were very deeply in love; Poe even wrote a famous love poem about her called "Helen". This painting is of Helen in the cemetary still 'waiting' for Poe. You can see the stone steps behind her leading up to her house. A romantic tragedy in my eyes...

Family Portrait

The past few months I have been busy, busy, busy getting all of my Christmas orders finished and shipped out to arrive before the big day. Thank you, Etsy! This is a commissioned family portrait that I just finished today. The photographer did an amazing job setting up the original photograph- I love the stockings in the background and The Night Before Christmas book. I am very pleased with the burning, I love how all the different textures from the clothing bring it all together to make a great work of art.

Now to start the Christmas shopping for my own family! No time to make any gifts for them this year, so off to the mall...on the Sunday before Christmas...I'm mentally preparing myself for all the screaming children and crowded stores. We still haven't gotten our tree yet, hopefully we'll do that today, too. Doncha just love Christmas??

Unique Boutique

Come join me at the Unique Boutique Artisan's Fair on Saturday, November 6th. I'll have some brand new pieces on display- and since Christmas will be near, I'll be doing hand burned personalized Christmas ornaments! Also, if you are interested in a custom piece, you can drop off or email your photograph to NapierWoodburning@yahoo.com .

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Scituate Art Festival

A few weekends ago was the Scituate Art Festival. I took this picture on the morning of the third day, and it was looking a little empty! Which is awesome- because that means that it was a very successful weekend. I sold tons of boxes, bowls, coasters, Christmas ornaments, cutting boards and original artwork! The next few weeks will be very busy- restocking for my November 6th show at the Rotunda on Easton Beach in Newport, and filling the Christmas orders that are starting to come in. So if you are thinking about an original woodburning for a gift this year, get your orders in now so I can have it ready by Christmas!

I'm excited for Christmas this year because Steve has promised me... my very first... REAL Christmas tree! Growing up we always had a fake one- if we even put one up at all- and the past ten years I've lived in apartments which weren't exactly Christmas tree friendly. But this year we have our new house with plenty of space for a pretty, perfect, real Christmas tree! Oh, the little things in life...

Set of Six Refinished Chairs

Here are a set of six antique chairs that I refinished. They were in need of some TLC- very worn with who knows how many years of finishes and dust layered on top of the original paint. I took the seats and legs down to bare wood and hoped to preserve the paint on the tops which had a faint stenciled design on them. I masked the tops and sprayed the bottoms black, then carefully hand sanded the tops to remove the years of grossness, yet preserving the painted stencil work. I couldn't believe it when the designs started to re-emerge, it was like finding a buried treasure! I distressed the freshly painted bottoms a bit to match the look of the top. I finished them all up with a few layers of clear gloss lacquer and the final product looks like this:
Ta Da! I loved this project, and might have started collecting some small pieces of furniture that people have left on the side of the road. One person's trash is another one's treasure, right?? I keep trying to tell that to Steve. He is not very happy that I have started bringing stinky old furniture home. But it has so much potential!! You just wait, I will turn them all into masterpieces.

Girl On Swing

I've recently become addicted to Bravo's new show, "Work of Art". It's like Project Runway, only the contestants compete to create the best piece of fine art based on that week's theme. I would absolutely love to be a part of something like that, so I've decided to begin a similar experiment with my art group. Every week we will choose a theme which each person will interpret into their own piece of art. We will then post all the finished pieces to be viewed and critiqued. I am most interested in seeing how different people interpret things in different ways- so anyone interested in participating is welcome. This week's theme: FEAR. I have a bunch of ideas, and I think I have it narrowed down to one. My goal is to use my own personal fears to envoke the emotion of fear unto the viewer- without being too literal.

I'm also continuing to work on more pieces for my upcoming shows. This is another burning based on an old family photograph. I love the innocent and pure memory that it captures- I still love swinging on a swing set to this day. I added an 'Alice in Wonderland' element with the mushrooms and red rose gardens surrounding her.