Author: Marilyn

I'm an artist working primarily in wood. My work has taken a story-telling path over the past two years.

“Wolf Moon” I as Virgo, hunger and howl ‘entre le chien et le loup’

The fifth in my Full Moon series. A Canadian friend of mine recently introduced me to a new french term for twilight: entre le chien et le loup. The literal translation is between the dog and the wolf. It’s such a perfect poetic expression!

My moon series is progressing as I contemplate my own struggles with returning to a regular sleep pattern. With each piece, the caption embodies aspects of my battles with sleeplessness. Here in the desert we don’t have wolves but we do have plenty of coyotes who call to each other at twilight, and later in the night too. There is nothing more comforting to me to hear them and imagining them running free in an alternate universe right outside my window …..

D:10”, H:14.5”. Turned, carved and wood burned. Hard maple and quarter sawn oak, aniline dyes, copper leaf and liming wax
Rear aspect featuring the constellation Virgo

Corvid Moon, final

  • “Corvid Moon” 7″ tall, 12″ diameter
    sycamore, birdseye maple and hard maple
    Aniline dye and shellac finish
Corvid Moon” is the third piece in the “Virgo” series featuring the full moon. It was inspired by both Greek and Pacific North West Indigenous creation stories. The one I am drawn to most comes from the indigenous people of British Columbia where Raven brings light, stars and the moon to the people of Earth. I started planning the design and construction of this piece just after Christmas, 2019 and have worked steadily on it for four weeks. It is made from sycamore (base), bird’s eye maple (top of base, body, wings and tail) and hard maple (head). The body, tail and wings were initially turned from a single piece of wood. After a month of cutting, carving, filing, sanding and reassembly Corvid emerged. Coloring is by transparent water-based aniline dyes and finished with coats of shellac and wax.

Australia continued…pink silky

Another beautiful timber I received from club members in Australia was a piece of “pink silky”. It’s grain pattern resembles oak, but once turned has this beautiful pink hue under certain light. To honor this wood I turned a wide mouthed lidded vessel so that the chatoyance effect of color shifts could be seen on the inside. I wood-burned an ancient three rabbit design into the lid. This motif appears in many ancient contexts ranging from a Celtic trinity to a symbol of fertility. It is believed that the symbol migrated west via the Silk Road from the orient.