The realism of nature in Julie Bender's pyrographs

In addition to painting on wood with brushes and watercolors, crayons or other such tools, there is a wood drawing technology that uses heat. It's called pyrography - the art of etching drawings on wood, but also on other materials such as paper, leather or bone, using a pen-like tool called a thermocauter. Some artists have taken this art to an almost unbelievable level of perfection. One such artist is Julie Bender.

Inspired by nature and wildlife, Julie draws incredibly realistic images. She uses modern thermocouples with the possibility of varying the temperature to achieve different colors. Her drawings look as if they were done in crayon, with amazing shades and shadows.

Julie Bender was born in St. Louis, Missouri, USA and grew up on a farm surrounded by birds, animals and cowboys. That's where her passion for drawing was born. Her fascination with animals and nature led her to make drawings that replicated reality down to the smallest detail. Following her passion, she attended Columbia University in Missouri, eventually earning a degree in art and a bachelor of science.

She started her career differently from what would make her known worldwide. Immediately after graduating in 1980, she worked as a web artist and later became a project manager in a web and software development company.

Unfortunately, in 2002, a great tragedy befalls her - her daughter, only 9 years old, dies - an event that becomes the starting point of a career that will make her very famous and will bring her great satisfaction. It seems that the myth of the master craftsman Manole is universal - there is an "Ană" built into every great "construction". In order to overcome her suffering, she goes at one point to a shop specializing in pyrography tools and, without knowing anything about this method, buys tools and begins to learn. She soon became a specialist in this process, developing all kinds of techniques and looking for the most suitable supports for her art.

Her first pyrography was an image of her dog on cherry wood. Over time she discovered that the best wood for this kind of work was maple wood because of its light cream color and silky appearance. She tried other woods, both hardwoods and softwoods, and found that hardwood is best because it burns more slowly, making it easier to control the pyrography process.

For the realization of the works, he uses thermocouters that look very much like a pen. The part that burns the wood can have different shapes to create special effects on the wood. Similarly, the temperature at the tip of the 'nib' can be varied so that burning the wood more or less will create the desired image.

Depending on the complexity of the job, Julie can do a job in 2-3 weeks or a couple of months. But it's not something that bothers her. She realizes that this is her calling and does everything with love and passion.

Julie roams the hills of Colorado, where she also lives, prairies, ranches and rodeo competitions to find inspiration for her work. Always the animal world, that world of the Wild West, a world that reminds her of her childhood ranch, has been her best source of inspiration.

Julie Bender's work has become known worldwide. Her work is on display in museums and exhibitions, in the permanent collection of the Leigh-Yawkey Woodson Woodson Museum of Art and in the private collections of admirers around the world. Lately Julie has been organizing workshops teaching the fascinating art of pyrography to children and adults alike.

See also: Carved animals by Giuseppe Rumeiro