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

WPatrickEdwards: Best Of The Best

WPatrickEdwards: Best Of The Best: PHILIPPE GUERIN'S "TROIS MONDES" One of the great things about living in other countries is learning how things are do...

The Shack #1 #2 #3, Landscape Marquetry

Another marquetry challenge on Fusion, “The Shack”

One of my most brain aching projects.

On that one I used the same technique than on Gaëtane, with prefused packs, but also a prefused background.

I used a maple background That i glued on a assembly board, then I placed my clouds, building from the light to the dark, mimicking the thickness of the storm clouds.

First an alder burl

Then some darker clouds on walnut burl and a blue horizon line

More darker walnut burl

Pieces of the Shack itself are cut out of my prefused packs. I sand and scrape to the point I almost want to go so I can sand slightly the project at the end. Those 2 veneers are now what I called “fused” to create kind of a new species of wood, a texture.

As I cut in 4 layers piece by piece, I prepare 4 of the same or cut a big one in 4 to put in a pack like that

Then I cut the background and the shack piece by piece and put them together on another assembly board, a bit more blue a bit more dark walnut burl and curly yellow wood as the back layer of my foreground.

Some more scraping, shaving and sawdust for the foreground loan and done

Completed for the 2009 Design in wood show, it did not meet again the understanding or liking of the judge. I must confess i was a bit upset for that one, but I was quiet happy as I got 11 inquiries on it and it was sold real fast.

Presenting that piece also brought me a client to buy the second one, my favorite. I made progress especially on the loan foreground mainly because I learn to play more accurately with the shaving and sawdust that I now call sprinkling.

I finished the third one for the Fine Art juried show at the Del Mar Fair, San Diego county and got the Spanish Village Art Center award for it in 2010

White Cockatoo, Marquetry

 I started cutting that project in France before to be sponsored by Patrick Edwards and Kristen Arrivee from Antique Refinishers and American School of French Marquetry in 2006. I brought back the half cut pieces and packs in my luggage.

As a restorer I practised marquetry but mainly for repairs. I did couple classicle projects but this picture is the first one I did as an independant wall picture.

I wanted to do something in the Roentgen style, small intricate pieces where the contrast is achieved by the choice of wood more than the shading. The picture I found of that cockatoo was ideal for that.

Choice of wood was critical especially for the bird containing the biggest pieces. Curly maple, beech and tight lacewood. Branches are made with rosewood, mahogany, cherry walnut

The technique used was piece by piece or classical method cut in 4 layers. I used 2 different backgrounds, 2 in oilve ash and 2 in dumpster-dived unknown pinkish veneer. The pinkish being a little to plain I added later some fusion to skyified it a little.

i finally finished it for the 2008 Design in Wood Show and have been lucky enough to have been awarded 1st place

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.