26. ca. 2004 to ca. 2006

Birch plywood (1″ deep; or 1¼″ deep)
interlaid with acrylic on canvas (1 to 4, 8, 10 to 15)
interlaid with acrylic on canvas, and acrylic on
surface (5, 7)
interlaid with acrylic on canvas and two painted paint brushes (6)
Birch plywood with wood shavings on the surface (9)
Black enamel on wood shavings and plywood (16 to 19)
Birch plywood with a pine base (20) 

With those works interlaid with canvas, Wardy applied painted canvas to the top of a one inch deep piece of plywood. He then cut the shapes he wanted into a one quarter inch deep piece of plywood and glued that unit over the canvas.

Although Wardy worked abstractly until about 2004, this series contains realistic imagery incisively presented. Wardy did the woodworking part of this series at the carpentry shop in Sequim, Washington, where he made the preceding sculpture series. His living ambiance was relevant to many examples of his subject matter. The property where he stayed at this time had many apple trees, a pear tree, and evergreens (fir and spruce). Crows populated the surrounding fields of hay, especially at the time of baling. The Strait of Juan de Fuca was nearby and in clear view. While fishing in the Strait, Wardy had seen more than once a whale passing between the northern coast of the Olympic Peninsula and Vancouver Island. He also recalled the palm trees of Southern California when working on this series.

For larger versions, please click on the thumbnail images, and/or scroll down for a slideshow of them.

An etching by Rembrandt, Three Trees (1643), inspired one of the black enamel pieces (16). Wardy had part of a reproduction of the etching that had been cut from a newspaper or magazine showing only the trees. The painted sawdust in the black enamel pieces (16 to 19) tends to sparkle even in low light.

Number 20, an experiment, is unfinished. Wardy has thought of having it cast in metal or plastic. Notes that he wrote when working on it include playful thoughts about other possibilities: the base “covered with sand and colored stars on palm branches” and “palm tree with colored dots or sequins cut into quarters and sand or colored sand on the base.”