Rain on the City - Linear movement series marquetry

In the stripe series, exploring the city impression I made “Rain on the city.
Fusion technique, recycling the left over.

It is for now on display at Cirello Gallery in San Diego

Summer on the City - Linear movement series marquetry

 In the Abstract Fusion Marquetry series, again recycling the left over veneers, I worked with “stripes to create movement.

With abstract careful attention to the overall composition and to the very details are is required

Some of those details

Dance Muse and 4 Different aspects of a Nebulous Thought, Sprinkling "marquetry"

Dance Muse and 4 Different aspects of a Nebulous Thought are by-products of the fusion Marquetry process used in ³ism. By that I mean, I was sad to see all those nice shavings, scrapings, sawdust wasted, so I collected them by color not really knowing what I was gona do with them, just that I already used some on The Shacks.
I just decided to use them as pigment an tried to do something more like painting but with wood pigments and texture.
Dance muse is an abstract idea of a dancing gipsy I had drawn in the past and 4 different aspects of a Nebulous Thought apart from having a silly title is what the silly title means.

Detail of Dance Muse

Both of them just out of the press

Some details of 4 Different aspects of a Nebulous Thought

Conclusion, I now keep everything and am becoming a horder

³ism (cubism), Abstract Fusion Marquetry

In 2009 I reconnected with the Art side of my 5 years in the Arts and Crafts school Ecole Boulle, by working on abstract again.

I used for the first time veneer on this subject, and handy enough I had over ten years of scraps to work with, thanks to Patrick Edwards’ inability to through anything away.

Out of Abstract and Recycling Art came this first project a triptych called ³ism (cubism).

Here are some details

I received second place at the Design in Wood Show in 2012

Experimenting : The Fusion Technique

Last 2008 picture.

I was fascinated by the piercing technique developped by Vriz in France during the 80’s.

The only thing I did not like was the nam, piercing. Piercing is a mistake and I did not like to use that term as the piercing was intended. With Patrick Edwards we finaly settle on the Fusion marquetry term, as it is self explainatory, you fuse to wood together to obtain a new mix, texture, feeling.

My intention was experimenting, get a feeling for the method, but mainly to manage to add shading to this technique, as I never seen fusion marquetry with any on it.

In experimenting : the Fusion Technique, I staged my “discovery”/experience of that newer technique and manage to get that shading that I was looking for.

Here is a variation

Got a 4th place at the Design in Wood Show

2008

On that one I tried to do the opposite of the white cockatoo marquetry, use big pieces, on the verge of abstraction with enough details to suggest the topic of that piece.

Cut on the chevalet de marqueterie using the piece by piece method, in 2 layers.

New Style

I have tones of drawings on my shelves, drawers, pocket bag...

Sometime I do not know how to interpret it in marquetry but after a while I always find a way to make the best of it.

Couple months ago I was told to do some more figurative, so I made more abstracts.

Then I was told I should make more stripe abstract, so after I dived in my drawing and get those out.

Marquetry as an “Art”

The term “Painting in Wood” was originally used during the last decades of the 17^th century to describe the style of marquetry popular in Northern Europe, particularly France and Holland. The artist, working at a marquetry cutters easel, carefully selected colorful hardwood veneers to create naturalistic paintings of flowers, birds, butterflies and stylized arabesques. As the methods evolved during the 18^th century to create different processes for making marquetry pictures, the term “Painting in Wood” was generalized to include other styles of art using wood as a medium.

It is important to understand that there is a technical application of the term as well as a popular use for describing marquetry art. The technical application, promoted recently by Dr. Pierre Ramond in his important book, “Marquetry”, applies to the cutting of a packet of material with a fret saw blade set perpendicular to the packet. Inside the packet are the layers of different woods, selected carefully to rest in areas where the final design requires them, as well as the background wood, which will receive all the elements of the picture after cutting. Therefore, as a technical process, “Painting in Wood” refers to the historic Tarsia a Incastro method of cutting marquetry created after the Italian Renaissance.

The popular usage of the term can be applied to any picture using wood as a medium to create art. As a marquetry artist, working in the 21^st century, I often use the term “Painting in Wood” to describe perfectly the creative intention behind my work. Marquetry art uses design, exotic and rare materials and a variety of different techniques to produce unique artistic creations requiring great skill.

Until recently, marquetry was considered an ancient art form, and art historians often considered it static with no new possibilities. However, as any art form, the craft continues to evolve. Marquetry art is no different than painting or sculpture, and new applications of materials and methods are being developed which will allow this form of decoration to reach a modern audience.

About 20 years ago, for example, a new technique appeared in France, championed by the artist Vriz. His technique was essentially a piercing technique which depended on building up layers of veneer on the surface of the panel and then carefully sanding through select areas to create a work of art. As this method was shockingly new, most artists resisted using it at first, but when I saw what he was doing, I began to imagine applications which I could use to adapt my designs to create a new form of marquetry art.

Working with Patrick Edwards at the American School of French Marquetry, we decided to propose a new term for this original process. The term “piercing” was not a good choice, as it is traditionally used to describe the worst mistake a marquetry artist can make: scraping through the veneer. After much discussion, it was suggested to use the term “Fusion Technique”, in particular since other original methods were incorporated into my work that seemed to fit this term.

During several years of experimentation at the American School of French Marquetry, I developed ways of using “Fusion Technique” that I believe have never been used before. I would like to thank Patrick Edwards and Kristen Arrivee for having seen the possibilities and for their trust and investment in the development of the “Fusion Technique”.

Originally, I was working to find a way to shade the “Fusion” pieces, working with hot sand ("Experimenting : The Fusion Technique"). My original method was to glue together several different layers of thin veneers and then carefully sand through them. This created a unique material which had different colors in a single layer. This new material was then used to cut out the design elements with a marquetry cutting easel, or “chevalet de marqueterie” ("Gaetanne"). But other applications give also great effects ("³ism")

In addition to this new material, I developed another method which I call the “Sprinkling Technique”. In this technique, I use sawdust shavings and scrapings of hardwoods applied on or mixed with glue to create impressionistic effects. Good examples of this new art are “Dance Muse” and "Four Different Aspects of a Nebulous Thought" created in 2009.

I also used both the “Fusion” and “Sprinkling” together in "The Shack" #1 an #2 created in 2009, #3 created in 2010.

All of those pieces bring interesting comments from spectators who have difficulties to believe these “Painting in Wood” creations where only done with wood, with no added stain or paint.