The realism of nature in Julie Bender's pyrographs

In addition to painting on wood with brushes and watercolours, pencils or other such tools, there is a technology for drawing on wood that uses heat. This is 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. There are artists who 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 real images. She uses modern thermocouples, with the ability to vary the temperature to achieve different colours. Her drawings appear to be done in pencil, with amazing shades and shadows.

Julie Bender was born in St. Louis, Missouri, USA and grew up on the 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 reproduced reality down to the smallest detail. Following her passion, she attended Columbia University in Missouri, eventually earning a degree in art and one in science.

She started her career in a different way from what was to make her world famous. Immediately after graduating in 1980, she got a job as a web artist and later became a project manager in a web and software development company.

Unfortunately, in 2002, a great tragedy happened to her - her daughter, only 9 years old, died - an event that became the starting point of a career that would make her well known and bring her great satisfaction. It seems that the myth of the master builder Manole is universal - there is a built in angel in every great "construction". In order to overcome her suffering she goes to a shop specialising in pyrography tools and, knowing nothing about the method, buys tools and begins to learn. She soon becomes a specialist in this process, developing all sorts of techniques and looking for the most suitable supports for her art.

The first pyrography was the image of her dog on cherry wood. Over time she discovered that the best wood for such work is maple wood because of its deep cream colour and silky appearance. She tried other woods, both hardwood and softwood, and found that hardwood was best because it burned more slowly, making it easier to control the pyrography process.

He uses thermocouples, which look very much like a pen, to do his work. The part that burns the wood can have different shapes, creating special effects on the wood. The temperature at the tip of the 'pen' can also be varied so that by burning the wood more or less, the desired image can be achieved.

Depending on the complexity of the job, Julie can do a job in 2-3 weeks or in a few 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, farms and rodeo competitions to find inspiration for her work. The animal world, that world of the Wild West, that world that reminds her of her childhood farm, has always been her best source of inspiration.

Julie Bender's work has become known around the world. She has works on display in museums and exhibitions, in the permanent collection of the Leigh-Yawkey Woodson Museum of Art and in the private collections of admirers from around the world. Lately Julie has been running workshops where she teaches children and adults alike the fascinating art of pyrography.

See also:Carved animals by Giuseppe Rumeiro