On December 12, 2006 the Pyrographic World lost
a great artist and I lost a great friend!
Lynda was a Canadian Wildlife Artist, an award-winning self-taught Pyrographic Artist, and a well known Pyrographic Instructor. She returned to her homeland (Canada) after many years of living in the United States.
She lived in a Century old Stone Cottage in Arthur, Ontario on many acres of land right beside a Wildlife Conservation Area . Wildlife was abundant and there was no shortage of subjects for her pyrographic/wood-burning artwork. The world surrounding her was like a giant canvass.
In the beginning, Lynda was a Portrait Artist. In 1997 she stopped doing portrait work to focus more on Pyrography. Lynda specialized in doing wildlife of North American Endangered Species, featuring quite often… Wolves. She has studied Wolves extensively, both in Montana and Ontario, and never tired of trying to portray their wildness and beauty
in her artwork.
Although Lynda had been working in Pyrography for some time, when she moved to Canada she discovered a new canvas…Burls. Working on Burls was one of her innovations. In case you are not familiar with Burls they are made from the wood that comes from a large rounded outgrowth that sometimes occurs on a tree trunk or branch. The hardwood Canadian Burls come in several different varieties: Yellow Birch, Birds Eye Maple, B.C. red maple. Lynda is quoted as saying this about Burls, “I really love burning on the Exotic Burl slices…particularly BC Maple. Each slice so different yet so perfectly ‘framing’ the wildlife depicted on it…and the same time…being environmentally responsible by removing these ‘burls’ from the trees before they can do harm.”
Lynda had also worked on Basswood, Black Cherry, Cedar, Poplar, Black Ash, and on and on. She had also enjoyed burning on Tagua Nuts , Paper, and Leather. However, she also burned on large slabs of wood and made coffee tables out of them. She has collectors of her work in Canada, United States, England, Scotland, and New Zealand that I know of. She is known for her use of color in her woodburnings. Lynda enhanced her artwork with thin washes of penciled oil colour. "This gives my Pyrography Artwork a "Lightfastness" that Pyrography/Woodburning alone doesn't have.”
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