We have been working on lots of new art since COVID-19 created the perfect storm to stay and work from home. Our latest creation is called an intarsia. Intarsia is a style of decorative wood inlay, involving a mosaic of usually wood pieces.  It is a mixture of woodworking and carving; two activities which Mark thoroughly enjoys.  Color and pattern is typically created from different species of wood instead of paints.  It also gives you the advantage of adding depth to your picture. This technique can also be used to enhancement furniture designs.

The creative process began when Mark sent the English Setter photo below to Rick.

Rick has always enjoyed seeing dogs going for a ride in a car and looking out the window. This inspired Rick to create the drawing below for Mark to use a pattern.

Mark explained his creative process, “I had a hard time figuring out how to frame Rick’s drawing of a dog looking out a window.  The problem was how to frame a picture that contained a frame. I decided to make the picture and frame all one piece.  I converted the picture into an intarsia wall hanging.  The next issue was converting from 2 dimensional to 3.   This I worked out one piece at a time.  Starting with the highest pieces, rounding and shaping as needed to add depth.”

The result is an intarsia wall hanging that is approximately 9” x 12”.  The wooden tiles vary in thickness but is predominately ¾” thick.  Each tile is cut out with a scroll saw and then shaped with power and hand tools.  It is mounted on 1/8” Baltic birch plywood. Woods used are black walnut, cherry, pine and Baltic birch plywood. Finish with polyurethane.

Rick is constantly amazed by Mark’s talent in both wood working and carving. “I can’t believe how cool this intarsia came out. Last week, I didn’t even know what an intarsia was and now Mark and I have created one! Mark keeps leveling up our dog art. He is trying new things, challenging the status quo and adding to our artistic experience.

The rest is Binky and Bell history. Will people buy it? We don’t know, but we really enjoyed collaborating to capture the joy of a dog sticking their head out of a car window! The name of this piece? For now, Intarsia Dog Hanging Out a Car Window.

We are open to suggestions…