24/09/2026
This is probably the most personal and labour-intensive piece of pyrography I have ever created.
The wooden panel itself began life as an alphabet picture. I had owned it for a long time without really knowing what I wanted it to become, until I decided to transform it into this memorial piece. I sanded the original artwork back by hand, leaving a soft whitewashed effect where some of the old lettering can still be faintly seen beneath the finished design. I love that little piece of its previous life is still there and how it ties in.
After learning more about the incredible impact of Dolly's Imagination Library and the millions of books it has helped put into children's hands, I knew this was what the panel needed to become.
I have always loved Dolly's music, but even more than that, I admired her spirit, humour, confidence and the way she carried herself as a woman. She was one of those women I remember looking at as a child and thinking, that's how you unapologetically be yourself.
I tend to process difficult emotions through creating, and this piece became a real labour of love.
🔥 The entire portrait has been hand burned using pyrography
🎨 Acrylic paint pens were used for the lettering and finer colour details
💋 Dolly's lips were built up using four separate colours to give them depth and dimension
✨ Her hoop earring has been finished with gold leaf for that extra little bit of Dolly glamour — because, as she famously joked, “It costs a lot of money to look this cheap.”
🪵 Upcycled wooden artwork
📏 Approx. 70cm x 50cm — this is a BIG statement piece
❤️ Completely unique — there will never be another exactly like it
The quote reads:
“Find out who you are and do it on purpose.”
I'd really love this to go to somebody who connects with Dolly in the same way I do — whether that's through her music, her kindness, her attitude to life or simply what she represented.
Hopefully it can hang somewhere visible and be that little reminder, especially when life gets ridiculously busy and we start losing pieces of ourselves along the way, to come back to who we actually are.
Dm me to get it for yourself 📩
