The Wood-burned Coffee Table (Deer & Covered Bridge)

This table, along with the blanket chests I'll be spotlighting a bit later, shows off the work Farmer Dave and I do together. It's pretty straight-forward: I burn the panel, Dave builds the table...

...and what a table! Dave fashioned this out of oak and even a cursory inspection reveals how exacting Dave can be. It's flawless...



This table measures 37"x19"x19", is priced at $475, and is available through Painting With Fire (mudcatz@hotmail.com).

Wooden Ships: "The Atlantic" (Farmer Dave)

For as long as I've known him (almost 20 years), Farmer Dave has built boats. Boats smaller than your hand. Boats as large as your sofa. With Maine's famous maritime history, nautical themes have never been farther away than our wood piles. This, a boat Dave has done periodically almost as long as we've known each other, is one of Dave's most popular renderings...

"The Atlantic"

"Winner of the 1905 Kaiser's Cup.

Built in 1903, the sleek, steel-hulled Atlantic not only won the prestigious trans-Atlantic race, she set a record, unbeaten until 1997, of 12 days, 4 hours, and 1 minute. Powered by a steam auxiliary engine, she sported a spcial low-drag propeller and folding funnel, both of which were removed for racing.

Measuring 185 feet long, with 3 towering masts, she was an impressive sight along the east coast as she cruised. Eventually she became impossible to keep up and came to rest as a dying hulk in a small New Jersey harbor."

Dave's rendering is a bit smaller (41"x41"x5"), though in front of you, it's still an expansive undertaking, with a painstaking detail.



Each one of these knots is hand-tied. Farmer Dave, who has large, fairly arthritic hands, will spend hours upon hours tying these lines, which has always struck me as an impressive display of endurance. Dave refuses to "cheat," determined that all the details measure up to his satisfaction...


This amazing ship is available through Painting With Fire, for $475. Please direct any inquiries to me, Scott, at mudcatz@hotmail.com .

Wooden Novelties: Farmer Dave

Today I get to show off some of my buddy, Farmer Dave's wooden novelties. As subsequent posts will show, Dave is a remarkable and exacting woodworker. Dave all but lives out of his workshop, a rustic and well-equipped workspace set back in the trees. Farmer Dave don't get out much, electing to live way back in the woods, back where the men are men and the livestock are nervous...

Farmer Dave sells all his novelties. All inquiries of the items listed below may be addressed through me, Scott, at "mudcatz(at)hotmail(dot)com."

With so much of our business done on Maine's scenic coastline, it is only fitting that nautical themes show up repeatedly in our work. Dave does wonderful work with miniature sailing vessels. This, his "small boat," measures 16"x16"x5" and lists @ $125.



His Shipwheel Picture Frame is oak and 8". It is marked @ $20 ea.



Farmer Dave's birdhouses have become famous throughout northern New England. These two examples, which utilize reclaimed materials, are styles that Dave struggles to keep in stock...

Welcome Birdhouse, 10 1/2"x6"x6"; $15



Delta Birdhouse, 10 1/4"x6 1/2"x6 1/2"; $10



Among Farmer Dave's more popular items are his single-compartment jewelry boxes. Among them are the Large Lobster Box (12"x5 1/2"; $35)...



and the Small Lobster Box (7 1/4" x 5 1/2" ; $15)



With Christmas fast approaching, Farmer Dave's been finding orders for toy items have been keeping him very busy. When I was last up his way, his workshop looked like it belonged at the North Pole. He has garnered a loyal clientele through the years that find these to be terrific stocking-stuffers, with a fair dose of nostalgia thrown in...

This Bulldozer measures 6" x 4" x 3" and is priced @ $10 ea.



The Tractor is 7"x4"x4" and is also $10 ea.



The Tugboat is 12"x5"x5"; $19.50




While future posts will display a fair more intricate side to Dave's work, I have always been fond of the simple elegance of his maple cutting boards.

Cutting Board, 13 1/4"x6 1/2"; $18



Apple Cutting Board, 12"x9"; $27.50



Dave's "Honey-Do Hammer" (10"x5 1/2"; $5) remains a locally-popular item...



...And Dave's "Lobster Trap" (3 1/2"x4"x5"; $15)...



...comes with its own Maine lobster...




And still the best is yet to come...

Portland Waterfront, 1901

"Portland Waterfront, 1901"

Scott Antworth, 2009

41" x 29"

Available through www.woodstogoods.com

Bio of a Wood-Burning: "Portland Waterfront, 1901," Final Sessions

I had been optimistic that I could wrap this piece with just one more (protracted) work session. As it happened, it took two. While I expect it to be a norm for many artists, I know that (for me), the closer I get to the conclusion of a piece in which I've invested so many hours, the more anxious I am to see it finally come to closure, to see it real and complete.

With as many hours that have been spent burning the smaller details, we have been working around a large area of the surface space. Comparatively speaking, much of this space (the broad swath of cobblestoned Commercial Street) comes together more quickly than the more intensive areas that surround it. The drawback to this is that it can be a very tedious process: cobblestone after cobblestone, after cobblestone... To combat what is often the more boring hours of this process, I generally burn "sections" of the street, then turn my attentions elsewhere, returning to the cobblestones later in the session or the next day.

The cobblestones detailed here are very typical of the stones making up the foreground. The deeper we go in this image (i.e. the farther away it appears from the observer), I tend to soften and blend the details, lending itself to achieving the illusion of perceptual distance.



As I mentioned in my last post, one of the greatest charms of working such a highly-detailed piece as this is that it grants a lot of freedom to allow your imagination to play. When I am burning this particular theme, the foreground figures aren't even usually conceived until well after work has begun. I figure they'll announce themselves the closer I get to that area of the surface. This sailor with his seabag, for example, only occurred to me minutes before I began sketching him--with the burner.


While I try to keep figures like these unique to each piece (which is why, as often as I've burned this Portland Waterfront scene, they are always one-of-a-kind), this fish-monger has made repeated appearances. The last time I burned this theme, she was much farther down the street, pushing that barrow of fish. This time around, it seemed only just two allow her a moment to wipe her brow...


With this Portland Waterfront scene, my last session is always dedicated to laying in all the ship rigging and powerlines, then reviewing, inch by inch, the entire burn. Touch-up lines and shades are laid in and the rougher edges between some of the figures and their background as resolved.



In reaching the fruition towards which we've worked all week, I often find, coupled with the charge of anticipated conclusion, the slightest strain of sadness. This exercise is almost over, and with it the excitement that is particular to every individual piece. The initial vision for the piece has only been a framework to let our imaginations repeatedly play. There have been moments, sown into those long hours, that it has felt as if we've been riding the very spark of creation...

Bio of a Wood-Burning: "Portland Waterfront, 1901", Days 3-6

If it is true that "the demon is in the detail," then this wood-burning has always ranked as one of the more hellish. What gives this piece its magic are its many small details. There's a lot going on here and having them invent themselves as we proceed is one of the many reasons this craft can be so addictive.

The 4 days which constitute this post were spent with precisely these details. These are as varied as getting the windows in proper perspective or burning in a horse-drawn carriage at a scale so small it will prove all but invisible in the final piece. When it comes to this stage of things, I generally just "pick an area" and get busy, working it until it's time to move elsewhere...or as inspiration allows.


With a piece as detailed as Portland Waterfront, 1901, often as not my pre-sketching tends to be far more detailed than, say, if I were doing a wildlife piece. The above photo details a section that is actually quite small (the bow of this boat is little larger than my thumbnail), representing an area at roughly center. The windows of the building at the right...


...provide a decent example of how these windows are laid out individually. When working at a scale that small, I have found it helpful to burn the individual panes of windowglass, forming the woodwork from unburnt slivers rather than burning their specific outlines.

The charm of attempting a piece like this one is that it allows for plenty of space to let your imagination run free. As often as I have burned the Portland Waterfront, 1901 theme, there are so many elements that become unique to each piece. They announce their intentions as work progresses. I purposefully leave large sections of the panel "un-planned" when I begin this burned, just to guarantee many opportunities to "invent as I go."

With so many small details ("events"), I often catch myself wondering if, when this piece is hanging in someone's living room, how long will it be before they realize the figure of this woman is reflected in the storefront window...


...or that the little dog is peeing on the cargo container behind the man with the newspaper...?



Through this stage of the wood-burning, the work sessions get behind us quickly as the small details emerge, defining the piece...









At first glance, there appears to be quite a bit left to this piece, here at the end of 6 days' work. I am anxious to get back to this panel tomorrow. I may just be able to wrap up this piece with just one more day...