What an extraordinary autumn week in the Colorado Rockies.  When my 2024 fall pyrography workshop was not filling up, one previous workshop student insisted on attending and so we worked it out, just the two of us.  She flew in from Wisconsin, we rented a large cabin high up in Estes Park with breathtaking mountain views, picture-perfect weather and mule deer roaming the grounds.  We had ample work space for us both to create our separate art and for me to guide her through her project.  Because I live nearby and photograph wildlife in their natural habitat all year long, composing her project piece was a really fun task.  I gave her a choice of animal subjects, she requested elk, so I composed a special scene just for her of a bugling bull elk with two cows and a calf during their rutting season.  She was thrilled with the scene and worked hard all week to burn her beautiful subjects on a 12x24" piece of birch wood.  Pyrography is a challenging, monochromatic medium, where building values one layer at a time and attention to great detail are key.  A student from my 2022 workshop, she knew this and did a spectacular job at taking her time navigating her way through this process.  We also spent a great deal of time discussing and practicing techniques such as masking her subjects to isolate them from background paints, and painting with acrylics.

With a "no-rules" agenda (after all, there were just the two of us), we made frequent trips inside Rocky Mountain National Park, only a few minutes from our cabin, observing elk in rut (yes, she produced a piece based on the very scenes we observed in the Park, which gave her more knowledge and appreciation for her own art), and moose up close.  By the end of the week we had not only made great progress on our respective pieces, but enjoyed the wildlife in the area, collected much photo reference for future work, ate great food, picnicked, drank in the changing colors of fall, spent early morning hours on our wraparound deck where dustings of snow blanketed the sunny mountaintops and hawks flew just above-head.  We enjoyed non-stop conversation and laughter and became even greater friends.

WORK!  WORK!  WORK!!

Two reference photos taken on two separate occasions were used to compose the art my student would produce.  When composing art I take time to pour over my photos to tell the best possible visual story.  Not only did my student work on this piece, but at this time of year she was fortunate to see these same scenes daily with me.

Reference photos for my student's work during our artist retreat in Estes Park, Colorado, October 13-19, 2024

First she finely-sands the Birch plank, then builds her values very lightly and will darken as she layers the work with more burn.  Moving around the work from subject to subject is important in building this scene properly.  Once the elk are all completed with great detail, she will add the grass environment at the bottom to give context to the piece and tie the subjects together.  Producing a work this size takes time, she will continue to have my guidance as much as she needs on Zoom calls and emails.  I am so proud of her progress - so is she!!

It was really nice to have time to work on a new piece during the week, too.

THE VIEWS!!!

Our "cozy" (4-bedroom, 2 bath, upper lower level) cabin in the woods offered breathtaking mountain views and all conveniences anyone could want.  And, turns out my student is a GREAT COOK!!

THE WILDLIFE!!

We made lots of time for visits to Rocky Mountain National Park, a short few minutes away from our cabin.  The elk rut was just winding down so we caught plenty of exciting action.  We also found a moose or two in the Park and spent hours observing and photographing them, as well.  We both came away with amazing memories and tons of photos for future art!  Sharing the experience was by far the best part of the week.

All in all, we had a leisurely, relaxing and fun-filled week loaded with hard work, wild animals, stunning weather, great friendship and jaw-breaking laughter!!  Hope we can do it again next year - with more students!!

Three Part Harmony

12" x  16" Pyrography and Acrylic on heavyweight paper

© Copyright Julie Bender

In October 2021 I was lucky to have been serenaded by several yearling coyote siblings moving swiftly about in a large meadow in Rocky Mountain National Park.  Coyotes are a rather rare sight, but I've been fortunate to observe and photograph them on occasion in my dozen years here in Colorado, and I certainly love depicting them in my art.  Thanks to numerous reference photos during that shoot, I used several to compose this piece to depict the musical interaction between the three.

Taking elements from several reference photos, composition is complete.

Then, with heavyweight paper cut to size and the coyotes burned (as pyrography allows me to carefully establish their values), I poured out the acrylic paint and the fun really began!  My overwhelming priority for this piece was to continue exploring an abstract way of executing my art while honoring nature’s autumn palette of golds, sepias and greens…my favorites; this is the direction my work has been heading.  Therefore, the background took on a loose and whimsical expression of their habitat.  And as I painted over the coyotes themselves, I took the opportunity to do what I love, which was to push the shapes, textures, colors, highlights, shadows, edges and values with broader brushes, sponges and palette knife to create a loose, more abstract scene, my interpretation of a beautiful memory in a wild world.

The three coyotes were drawn onto the paper and burned.  Pyrography allows me to really examine the values of the animals in order to give them a good base for the paints I add later.

 Once those values are established, pushing paint around is next.  I never have an exact plan in mind, rather I allow the paints, brushes and sponges take me along for the ride.

Being loose and whimsical is my goal throughout the piece.  Once colors are there, I add more water, allow drippings, swirl the paint around, creating various hues, tones and even trees emerge in the background, which gives context to the abstract habitat.

The finished piece, which took a week, feels much as I had envisioned: three subjects taking equal part in a space created just for them, in a place even they could not imagine.