Cold War Harrier Jumpjet.

Cold War Harrier.

When I first drew this piece up for a 'burn', I posted it on social media and straight away a previous customer of mine contacted me to purchase it!!  I hadn't even started so now the pressure was on not to make a mistake in this complex piece. The customer is a plane enthusiast and I burnt a Vulcan Bomber for him previously, but this time his wife contacted me for a Christmas present, we decided between us that I would post progress photos on my instagram account that he could see but every time I declared it was meant for my brother...cunning plan that worked as he had commented that he was jealous of my brother receiving it. And so the work began.

This 'burn depicted a Harrier Jumpjet, during the cold war period, landing on a German Autobahn (motorway) this was iconic of the Harrier where it could land almost anywhere. It was a tricky one to work on as the reference photo was some years old and it had a lot of different depths of field to work on, some in detail and some out of focus almost, giving the whole piece a scenic image front to back. I decided to start on the jet itself first, this was the main focus area.

I then worked on the central reservation barriers, letting you know it was a motorway (autobahn) and not a runway!

Then I moved onto the tree line behind, not detailing the trees too much so they stayed looking in the distance and didn't compete for detail with the Harrier. This immediately gave it a lot of depth to the scene. The large tree to the side of the carriageway was next and this had to be more detailed but not to detract from the jet, just enough that it sits behind. Finally I added a small amount of white paint to highlight just a few areas on the Harrier, road markings and signage which all added to the depth of the scene and made things 'pop'. And the surprise worked a treat and was very much welcomed on christmas morning.

 

I think it's time to catch up!!

Work Work Work !!!

Its been a few months since my last upload and also entering the new phase of pyrography, and its been busy to say the least, I have gone from one piece to the next almost working everyday, some commission work and some sold because of the subjects and some still for sale! My latest piece is at the start here but scroll down to catch up will all of my recent work. 

Wallcreeper

This was a lovely piece to work on, a commission piece for a friend and wallcreeper enthusiast. This time I reverted to painting, and set on a lovely piece of cherry wood.

Wallcreeper piece underway.

The Predator ...finished. After 27 hours of burning I completed this burn, absolutely loved it despite all the hours of tricky detailing.

The start of the PREDATOR burn, this was asked for by a friend but I didn't have any problems with that as it was something I was looking at doing and so glad I did.

Deadpool

This took around 20 or so hours to complete and I learnt how to get different textured effects on this burn', the details were insane at times and I lost myself in so many places!! But it is one of my favourite pieces up to date so far.

The Fog burning with the Dane sign form the ship which is hanging in my garden. I wanted to do this piece because of how much I like the film, great fun.

I find the aircraft burning really fun and different, this F-14 Tomcat on the aircraft carrier with the smoke from the winch mechanism was a challenge to get that effect but I decided to use white paint to give a more surreal look to it, awesome planes...TOP GUN!

The A-10 Thunderbolt. I remember seeing these fly around in Norfolk when I was a kid, and I always thought what a cool plane they were so it was no struggle to want to do this one, very fiddly with the detailing on this but I kept it simple and am very pleased how it came out.

The Exorcist

A iconic scene from a very popular film, if you dont know the film it still works as a scenic portrait.

A favourite burn', the stricken crew from the Elizabeth Dane ship in the cult film The Fog.

A jump back to wildlife with this common seal burn. Lots of small hair detail in this one...and whiskers!

A commission piece of a Vulcan Bomber, this was a start into aircraft burns which I am happy to say will continue. I added the insignia to make it more personal to the owner.

I love this scene from the Force Awakens - Star Wars film of the Tie Fighters, a fun burn where I used paint for the sun to give it a real contrast.

Another block piece burning depicting the Omen films, I am a big fan of these films and loved burning the different poster images from them....makes me want to watch them all again!!

Yours truly working on a sign for a nephew, for his garden pub house! This was burnt on a lovely piece of chestnut.

A dog commission piece for a friend and neighbour of his dearly departed Rottie'.

This was a real joy to work on and was snapped up straight away, before it was even finished, it even got applause from the American Werewolf actor himself David Naughton.....wow!

Yours truly starting the first side of the American Werewolf in London burn'.

This pair of wildlife portraits were for my brother and his wife.

Deaths Head hawkmoth, burn and paint used on this small piece, as you know moths are a big thing with me, always nice to chop and change between subjects.

This is the largest piece I have done so far, a Red Deer stag, I went into this treating it like I was painting and so to create similar detail effects but instead of paint I burnt it in.

A new Burning Desire!

With no commission work and no pressure to get stuff done due to the lock down I decided now was a good time to start on a new journey with Pyrography. I had a few nice pieces of wood already prepped for painting on so I used these. First up would be a couple of Hawkmoths together.

 Lime Hawkmoth & Eyed Hawkmoth

This was something very different to get into but I really enjoyed working with burning the designs onto the wood..this was going to be the start of a new journey.

Hardly leaving time to take a breath as it were, I prepped and got going on the next piece, a Barn Owl.

 I was probably using all the wrong tips and burning in the incorrect way but it was a learning curve with shadow shading and detailing and tones but great fun, it took a lot more concentration to get things right, it wasn't like a drawing where I could erase a mistake!!

 The colour of the burning just added to the work as it matched the tones of a real Barn Owl. Really enjoyable and I already knew I had a lovely piece of Cherry wood measuring around 2ft, a jump up from my first 2 pieces but I was hooked....and my next subject was a Red Deer stag. Stay tuned to see how that went of if you want to follow my progress then follow me on Instagram as " hairyartist67 "