Julie Bender is an American artist currently working out of Loveland, Colorado. From a young age, Bender was interested in drawing and painting animals and nature scenes. When her beloved dog Vizsla passed away in 2002, Bender bought a hobby wood burning kit and created a wood burned portrait of her dog on a cherry wood urn. And so it was that Julie Bender’s love for the art of pyrography was born.
Pyrography is also known as wood burning. Both names describe the process of marking a piece of wood with decorative burns. Holding a hot wood burning tool to the wood for a short while creates a shallow mark, whereas pressing the hot iron to the tool for an extended period of time creates a deep impression. The heat of the tool can change the color of the burn marks in the wood; cooler temperatures leave a light, roasted color on the wood, while a fiercer heat can scorch the wood, leaving behind black marks.
Combining her love for animals and her passion for wood burning, Julie Bender creates masterful animal portraits on the organic canvas of wood.
Visit Julie Bender’s online art gallery for more photorealistic wood burning art works.
