Title: “Long-eared Owl with Oak Foliage (Organically Framed)”

Artist: Michael Autumn

Date: 2023

Country: UK

Size: 400mm (H) x 310mm (W)

Description: This is a special pure engraved and uniquely organically framed version of my original laser art puzzle (see https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1574796367/long-eared-owl-with-oak-foliage-art). It is not a puzzle – just parts of it intentionally look like a naturalistic puzzle. The eyes are bright acrylic – like glass. The engraving bleeds out into the frame in a very natural, continuous, way. The whole design is varnished with a non-yellowing lacquer.

The “art” side of this artwork is where I have designed the owl to show that it is literally made of many of the wide variety of creatures that it eats. I used the simple jigsaw-puzzle you-are-what-you-eat metaphor to illustrate this puzzling (pun intended!) transformation of lots of small animals making up an owl.

This is a laser-cut hand drawing – where various thicknesses of lines are scored/engraved on to the surface of the wood by the use of a very high quality laser.

This laser-cut artwork has considerable extra detail compared my original artwork of the same name, and has a rich oak foliage background – to take full advantage of the extra engraving and scoring precision achievable with a very high quality laser – compared to hand-cutting and scoring. Also I wanted to produce much more affordable art – compared to my very laborious (and strenuous!), hand-cut, hand-finished, original artworks.

Laser-cut
This is not ordinary laser cutting: this is laser-cutting pushed to its limits. The usual flaws of laser cutting – scorching, burn marks, unsharp, brittle and crumbling edges, poor detail – might be acceptable to most people, but wasn’t acceptable to the me – a self-confessed perfectionist with OCD! So over several months I exhaustedly researched the problems, tried various solutions, found some to be too labour intensive, thought outside the box, made a special tool, and eventually came up with a workflow of pre-, and post-, production, specially selected materials, and using special techniques. Now I’m very happy with the results: near perfection and consistency – I think it’s the best you are likely to see – or feel…

Editions: This is an unlimited edition.

Material: finest quality 6mm hardwood plywood
• sustainably produced wood
• specially treated (protected against frequent handling, moisture, water spills, saliva, dirt)
o non-cracking, non-peeling, non-flaking

Unlimited Edition
The unlimited edition is a very high quality laser-cut wooden jigsaw puzzle – probably the highest quality wooden jigsaw puzzle available anywhere – as of 2023. These are not mass-produced: they are individually produced on a very fine laser – taking well over an three hours each.

Wood_Engraving

Long-eared Owl with Oak Foliage (Organically Framed)