An Artist Sends me Some of Her Fine Work

Tuesday November 18, 2014
Varying sun and cloud, windy, and colder

An Artist Sends me 

Some of Her Fine Work

   Last week, A reader by the name of Bonnie Richardson asked if I could find out whether or not  the photographs that she sent to me were of a toy or an actual tool. I could;t find the answer, but Bonnie's detective work worked and she found the answer- The item was a toy - a toy scroll saw.

Please click here to read the original post

  After I had added Bonnie's past last week, A question popped into my head.  What was bonnie doing with a toy scroll saw, and perhaps she had a hobby. I sent here the question,and Bonnie sent me the answer samples of what she did - marquetry. For those who don't know, and I didn't until last week, marquetry is a form of art where thin pieces of asserted wood veneers are glued to a backing (e.g. flat wood) to create imagery.

  Bonnie's work was quite impressive and so again I asked her another question - could I add her fine work to a post. And that's how today;s post arose. I've always had "a thing" for nature. As a sub-heading, wood is one of favourites. I like how nature has created so many different trees, how they grow, the many different types and colours of wood,and so on. 

  I sent Bonnie an excellent web address here in Montreal. I used to get my previous car maintained at a dealership near the Langevin &  Forest  store (the website). I discovered this wood store wandering off one day while my car was having it's periodic check-up. I wonk;t say more - you have to go their website to see it!

Please click here to visit this excellent wood and tool supply store

Below are Bonnie's photos of the toy scroll (jigsaw) 

that she herself discovered was a toy.

A Sampling of Bonnie's Excellent 

Marquetry Art

PLease view these images in Blogger's slide mode.

I've made them larger for this purpose.

A coping saw is the tool used to create most of the work. It's a special saw mounted on a base to work accurately and avoid accidents. A sketch is created with the tones perhaps thought out beforehand. The wood veneers (thin sheets of wood) are selected piece-by-piuece, and taped with double-sided tape to a backing called a "backer veneer". This will keep the artwork veneer flat as it is cut out. Once the cut is finished, the backing will be thrown out, and the finished piece is added to the sketch - piece by piece. The material to add the piece to the backing is glue.

This requires a lot of preparation and work, but the finished results are great!

I asked Bonnie to send me some close-up photos of the finished work. What fantastic is to see how the different colours of wood are used to create the photo. I especially like what I think are the small pink pads of the squirrel's pad (paw), and of course the whiskers. 

Look at how the cut out inlay of the inside of the closest ear actually looks like the cartilage you'd see , I also like the grey choice of wood for most of the body.

Here's another close-up that Bonnie sent me.  I had thought what the leaves were, but forgot to mention them to Bonnie. She told me later that they were tobacco plants and leaves. The reason that I forgot (not to excuse myself) was that these leaves were so fantastic in their inlay and cutout. They reminded me of the Paul Gaugain's art from the Pacific.

The shapes are gently curved and appear to be moving with the wind.

Please click here to see WikiArt's Paul Gaugain's Artwork

Thanlks for dropping by to visit, and as always
have a great part of the day or night,
wherever you may be,
Stacey
toysearcher@gmail.com