The Jah Russ Library › The Studio
I draw it first, then burn it into the wood by hand. Portraits, crests, animals, names, lines that mattered to somebody. Every piece here is an original, and every one was made for a particular person or a particular reason.
A full moon burned down to the pale wood, and everything around it taken to deep char. The lion is left standing in what light is left. One of the heaviest pieces I have done, and the one that taught me how far the wood will go before it stops giving.
Every feather is a separate pass. The oak leaves and acorns came out of wanting a border that was not a border. This is the piece people stand closest to.
The background is burned solid and the horse is simply what I did not touch. A hard geometric edge cuts behind him, which is not how a stable looks, and is exactly how the light did.
The drawing stage. Every commission starts here, before anything is burned. No shading to hide behind, so if the line is wrong you find out now rather than halfway through a panel.
A portrait with hibiscus and palm, and a note in her own language: eres arte, luz y energia. Gracias por ser exactamente como eres. The words matter as much as the face.
A birthday commission. Butterflies, purple hibiscus, and the lettering worked into the composition rather than added underneath it.
Her name, her posture, and a line she lives by. The halo behind her was her idea. This is the kind of piece I like most, where the subject brings the words.
Warm bamboo takes color differently from basswood, and the red comes up softer. Room left underneath for a name.
Nothing here is priced on the page, because no two pieces are the same. Size, wood, subject and the hours it takes all move the number. As a rough frame, most pieces land between $400 and $900, shipping included. Tell me what you have in mind and I will give you a figure before you commit to anything.
How it goes: you tell me the subject, I come back with a drawing, and nothing is agreed until you have seen it. Once the burning starts the drawing is fixed, because wood does not take an eraser. Pieces ship worldwide from Puerto Plata, or I can hand it to you here.