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!
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!
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.
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. 
This beautiful zen table is made of ash with contrasting inlay squares made of wenge. The top piece is very thick- and very heavy! I only dropped it on my finger once...and it has since healed, thank you for asking.
This amazing, one of a kind sofa table is made of zebra wood. I coated it with many, many, many layers of gloss laquer and then it was buffed to create that glassy look. The legs are metal, and were welded to fit the top. 
Here is my newest piece, "The Perfect Couple". This was burned onto an old cherry kitchen cabinet that we were replacing. I kept a few of them- I really like the tone I get with the warm cherry wood. (We have since made all new cabinets for our customer's beautiful kitchen!) The image is from an old photograph of my great grandparents at their summer home on Martha's Vineyard. I remember driving by the house as a child while on vacation. My mother told us how she had spent every summer vacation there as a child with her family. The property has since been sold.
