A week ago I had the pleasure of being one of the artists highlighted at the Sip and See Event during Old West Days in my hometown of Jackson Hole. Usually this weekends events get called Old Wet Days due to the amazing weather we get each year.
This year we lucked out for the most part and saw the sun for almost all of it, sadly the afternoon of the Sip and See came with a lot more than just art and drinking. At one point in the day there were two rivers flowing through the large tent housing all of us artists, a winery and all the people brave enough to come out in the weather.
I had about three hours to finish an entire piece of art so I was brainstorming on what my subject might be for the event. Right outside the tent I got my first piece of inspiration.
As the afternoon progressed and the weather continued to create a black sky, hail and lots of water, I decided I was going to do a little experiment and try something new with the piece. Not 100% sure it was going to work the way I wanted it to, I decided that this was a good time to try it out. If I ruined the piece it would just become a new scrap of wood for the burn pile at home.
Once I finished the piece as far as I wanted to go on detail I started to pour a different type of gunpowder over the top of the entire piece. My wife and father were there the entire time and were shocked when I started to cover the entire piece up. They were not impressed and did not have a ton of faith in what I was trying to do.
Once 3pm rolled around all the people gathered around my table for the burn. Starting with the corner of the piece, my first gunpowder moved slowly through the piece but once the second gunpowder lit on fire it move quickly through the piece and created a really tall flame. For a moment we were all warm amongst the cool temperatures and wet weather.
Thank goodness the piece turned out exactly how I had imagined it. The people that had their doubts were pleasantly surprised that I did not ruin the entire piece.
This piece is available for purchase. Please email me if you are interested at info@paintwithgunpowder.com
Enjoy watching the burn here!