WELCOME TO MY STUDIO

My name is Heather Bradford McCoy and I am a woodburning artist living in the beautiful Trinity Point area of Swoope, Virginia. I use a negative-space wood burning technique on live edge slabs, handmade furniture,  frames & sculpture. My Fire+Oil fusions merge woodburns with oil pastels.

I find the process of texturing wood with fire absolutely captivating!  Revealing an image through the reverse process of burning away its background is, in and of itself, incredibly satisfying, BUT, the added juxtaposition of the deeply-textured-negative with the silky-smooth-positive makes for an extremely tactile piece.  These works are meant to be felt as much as seen to get the full scrummy experience.  I just love it! 

As for inspiration, even after many years, I'm still not sure I have any particular message to bring to the world. Mostly I just love a good design that satisfies both my Mind's fascination with pattern and my Soul's Calvin & Hobbes anarchist attitude. Generally the Wild Wood of my imagination provides all I need to trigger a new design with only a dabble of reference help from sources such as old wallpapers, nature identification guides or archeological artifacts. Sometimes though a word or phrase is all it takes to bring the spark.

And then: After months of working on micro-detailed burns, the craving for color and movement overtakes me and I rush to the sublime malleability and slightly chaotic nature of the oil pastel.  Sometimes they merge forming a unified work (my Fire+Oil Fusions) but not always.  

Enjoy :)

 A Peek Behind the Process