Painting Cow Newsletter – February 2009

Painting Cow Newsletter – February 2009 offers a different kind of leathercraft lesson from the late Paul Burnett, using a detailed critique of another leatherworker's finished project to demonstrate how Victorian-style carving can be improved. Burnett examines an anniversary plate by Paul Krause, discussing what works in the design as well as specific opportunities to improve composition, tooling, and pictorial definition.

The critique becomes a practical lesson in design balance, floral flow, stops, pointed and undercut bevelers, pear shaders, cutting accuracy, and the relationship between concave and convex forms. Burnett explains why certain tooling decisions can make leaves appear flat or create physically confusing forms, then finishes by presenting his own redesign of the central Victorian heart motif to demonstrate how changes in scroll size, leaf placement, and background space can strengthen the overall composition.

The newsletter also provides an interesting snapshot of Painting Cow Studio in 2009, including Burnett's thoughts about teaching, future instructional projects, video lessons, and changes to his coloring courses. Those historical updates remain in the original publication, but the lasting value of this free digital tutorial is the opportunity to learn how an experienced instructor evaluates leather carving and approaches correcting a design.

Several of the projects and instructional directions Paul discusses in this issue can now be explored through his available materials, including Wildlife Studies: The American Kestrel, the Coloring Leather lessons, and the Victorian Style Home Study Course. These resources provide a natural next step for readers interested in his approaches to realistic carving and coloring.