• Handmade item


• Materials: birchwood, pine, inks, colored pencils, waterbased urethane

Colony Elliott Santangelo's Profile

STORIES AND TAPESTRIES IN WOOD began informally in my living room in New York City almost thirty-seven years ago when I made a set of wooden Peter Rabbit figures for my daughter. Since then I have expanded from story sets to furniture, wall art, and a variety of other accessories for children and adults, as well as prints and greeting cards from my illustrations.
I have recently added a new line to my shop - custom pet portraits, hand painted on cradled wood panels. Working from photographs, I am discovering a whole new world of expression!
As a student at the New York City Rudolf Steiner School, a Waldorf school, I was immersed in artistic expression from day one.We were taught that imagination had the power of vision, and our hands were the tools we used to bring vision to life. It was a necessary and integral part of our education and helped us inhabit a richer world!

My picture book, BROTHER WOLF OF GUBBIO, A Legend of Saint Francis, was published in 2000 (Handprint Books). The illustrations were done on basswood panels, giving the book pages much the same look as my three-dimensional work. I also did the cover art for THE KEY OF THE KINGDOM, A Book of Stories and Poems for Children (Bell Pond Books 2004) on a basswood panel.
Just a note on the ‘tapestries’ in Stories and Tapestries in Wood – some of my early painting on furniture and wall art was reminiscent of medieval tapestries, and the name stuck. I now do tapestry painting on commission.
I still paint in the corner of the same living room and take great pleasure in giving visual life to classic tales. Custom orders are my specialty. Any story can be told on any item, and be personalized to your request. Contact me to discuss your ideas and see how we can make something practical into pure enchantment!

www.etsy.com/shop/petportraitsinwood