She’s Been Waiting in Storage — and I’m Finally Giving Her the Attention She Deserves

I have been deep in book-writing mode lately...as I'm sure you probably know if you're reading this.

You likely know I’m currently drafting Book 5 of the Jack Mac Paidin series — The Missing Sister — and I’ll be honest with you: it has been consuming me in the best possible way. When a story has hold of you, it has hold of you. These characters have been loud in my head, and the chapters have been flowing. As a result, just about everything else in my creative life has had to quietly step aside to make space.

Including my pyrography.

I’ve completely neglected my wood-burning art lately, and today I’m giving myself permission to step back from the manuscript, just for a moment, and return to the studio — even if just in spirit. I’m spending some time today revisiting and revising a handful of older pyrography videos on my YouTube channel. Polishing them up. Some of these hyperspeed art creation videos didn't have any audio, and their titles and descriptions were less than optimal. So, I'm selectively updating specific videos with new titles and the descriptions they deserved from the start.

It feels good to remember that I'm a multidimensional creator, lol! 😄

Why I’m Going Back to These Old Videos

A video with a compelling title gets more views. And a description that tells the story of a piece creates curiosity about the burning process. And the right music? It changes everything about how a viewer experiences the work.

I’ve been crafting pyrography pieces for decades — burning, creating, documenting — and some of those earlier videos deserved more care in how they were presented to the world. So I’m giving some of them a slight facelift now.

The Mona Lisa Project

There’s a piece of wood in my studio that has been sitting in storage since November of 2024.

She’s oval. She’s beautiful — and she’s not finished yet.

She is, of course, my wood-burned version of the Mona Lisa. And lately she’s been on my mind.

Of all the pieces I’ve worked on, this one might be the most ambitious. The idea was straightforward enough: burn my own interpretation of the most famous painting in the world onto a natural wood round with the live edge still intact. What I didn’t fully anticipate was how much the piece would teach me as I worked on it.

One of the details I’m most intentional about is the texture on her face. The original Mona Lisa has a distinctive crackled surface — centuries of aged paint creating a fine web of lines across the canvas. I wanted to capture that same quality in the wood, adding texture that echoes what time has done to the masterpiece itself. It’s one of those artistic decisions that you either notice or you don’t — but once you see it, you can’t unsee it.

She’s been in storage for a couple of years now. But I haven’t forgotten her. I plan to dig her out, finish what I started, and photograph the completed piece properly when she’s done.

But in the meantime — the updated video is live. This is Part 1 of the project, showing the burn in progress. I paired it with “Laid Back Guitars” by Kevin MacLeod, which turned out to be an absolutely perfect match for the energy of watching this piece take shape: warm, unhurried but alive, with just enough movement to keep you watching. Honestly? Watching it now takes my breath away.

Watch the Updated Video

If you’ve seen this one before, watch it again — it’s worth a second look now that it’s been properly dressed up. It's just over 3 minutes long. And I think it's well worth your time.

If you’re new here, welcome. This is the kind of thing I do.

▶️ Watch: Burning My Version of the Mona Lisa — Part 1

The finished piece is coming.

She’s worth the wait. 🔥