Nocturne @ Protea Gallery - Straw marquetry

Two months ago I have been invited to participate in a group exhibit at Protea Gallery in San Diego with a dozen other artists to provide a small dimension piece on the “Nocturne” theme.

I did not know what to do until a week before delivery.

I had some straw sitting around for me finding the time to work on it. The black and blue dyed straw seems to fit the theme and I did it.

Here is the black straw all and splited

The dark blue is real nice, has some nice variation in it,

The light blue is real bright and powerful

Straws has a natural finish on it made of silicate and the reflexion changes with your movement and the light.

Inspired by the the Chopin’s first nocturne and the use of the straw from the 30’s I came up with this piece.

Pictures can not really show the effect of straw. I will take pictures at the show to see if I can capture the effect a bit more or a video maybe.

Cheers

-- Patrice lejeune

Treasure box #2 - Preparing for marquetry

Some of new have seen our new project on other posts. We had a pretty good success with our first series, the 4 copies were sold in a year.

We are going to revisit this box sold at Christie’s if my memory is good.
The picture quality is not great, but we enjoyed the composition and decided to use it as a ground for our new design.

The design has been finished for couple weeks now, and for the past couple days we have been working on preparing for marquetry cutting.

As I am using piece by piece technique in order to end up with 4 copies, after the drawing are completed I start cutting each individual piece on paper, as pattern for cutting.

Each cut pieces are placed according to position on a tray

And each tray is dedicated to a panel for the box

The top part is a little too complicated and too big to set in one tray

So I divided it in 3 trays, the inside cartouche with the bird

The oval scrolls and acanthus

Then the corners that i need to cut

When I am done cutting those las papers, I will start cutting real marquetry, as Patrick Edwards in the meantime has been preparing the palette of color, with sawn veneers.

The first picture to cut is the inside panel so Patrick can start building the box

The numbers are the chosen veneers positions, and the paper patterns are glued on those packs

The packs are secured by riveting nails in between pieces

Lets go cut something!!!!!

Cheers

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...

Miniature Marquetry - No Child Left Behind - Best of Show 2010

In 2008, a friend of mine started a Mail Art project called His Legacy.

The goal was, for diverse artist, to mail 2 postcard size Mail Art representing an interpretation of president Bush legacy. One to the white house and one to the Getty Museum, and this every weeks of the last year of Bush’s presidency.

I was contacted to participate, but as a foreigner, I chose to stay out of the political stand and did double reading piece, a free interpretation of a picture taken in Germany and published in Das Bild. The picture was read differently by both side of the political scene, each side making its own interpretation. I push this chose your own interpretation a little bit in the title, No Child Left Behind Act being such a controversial political decision. Overall, it worked pretty well in the sense where each political side who looked at this marquetry had in fact there own interpretation.

The drawing was made from the picture

I tried something new, I scanned the drawing to do the color choice using photoshop.

The marquetry was cut in 4 layers using the piece by piece technique on the chevalet.

The background was cut out of died black maple also in 4 layers

The final marquetry had around 360 pieces some of them thicker than wide.

I did not finish in time for the Mail Art Project, I send another more simple marquetry, but I finished nevertheless the project and surprisedly, for a “political" and such a small piece, got Best of Show at the Design in Wood Show in 2010.

They put a blown up picture on the side for the public to be able to see the details

At Cirello Gallery in 2011

At Last, Still Life Marquetry

This picture as a story I find interesting.

Around 2000 I was coming back from work, a workshop in Paris suburbs when my high was attracted by an an old battered drawing portfolio in the trash. I looked at it and found century old studies from a Beaux-Arts student of the 1900 period. Novel art style tiles, studies, and water colors. Among them a watercolor of this dried leaf.

I was inexperience at marquetry, I knew how to cut fairly well, but had only done classical flowers and repairs. I thought this drawing was just perfect for an etude as I just had to follow the color code to create a piece.

When I was done with the marquetry, the color the shape of the pieces everything was similar to the watercolor but it did not work at all on marquetry.

This experience taught me something essential, each media got his character and a way to be read.

I cannot show you the original watercolor as I left it in France and I can not show you also the first marquetry as it is long gone in the trash. But I brought the first marquetry drawing along with me in the US and redrew it, this time thinking marquetry. The result is now more convincing because I drew it as a marquetry, changing slightly the lines, the colors etc.

In addition I asked Kristen Arrivee, our Art teacher at the American School of French Marquetry, to do a calligraphy to frame the piece in words.

I wanted to share that little story with you, as I have been asked some tips on marquetry drawing, and for me that was the first big lesson on the subject. It is not a problem to fail on a project and if that happened or if you are not totally happy, you can learn a great deal by rethinking it and redo it. Just like cutting, you will refine your work get more precise confortable and happy by doing so.

This baby got me a second place at the design in wood show in 2010

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

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.

My first marquetry

My first piece by piece marquetry in École Boulle, Paris, during my marquetry workshop in 1996.
In fact it is my second marquetry the first one could not fit together and I had to recut the all project.
I keep it to remember to not cut to fat.

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