As a child, my dad had this painting in his office. The frame was in terrible shape between a spot that looked like a dog chewed it and the gold paint was coming off exposing red paint in spots.

After my dad moved into a smaller place, he was going to toss the painting so I took it. It’s been hanging in our hall since about July 2020.

This year, I set out to restore the frame. My plan was to wood fill the damage and repaint it black. Well, that’s not what I ended up doing. While I was in the middle of applying wood filler, I was inspired to do something radical… burn the frame.

I removed the wood filler I’d already applied and went at it with a torch and very little planning.

I think that this adds to the original art in a way that reframing or simply restoring the frame wouldn’t. I am now part of this piece’s history.

It’s not back to hanging in our hallway, though in a new spot after the bathroom renovation made a doorway larger.

The Original Painting

William Riddle Warner was born in Canada, lived in Arizona for some time, served in the US Army overseas during World War 1, moved to New Mexico and became one of the first forest rangers.

The community in Silver City, NM knew Warner as a talented landscape artist until his death in 1947 at age 62.

The fire depicted appears to have been called the “Black Rage Fire” according to a penciled note on the back that is very faded.

In April 1965, Lin Marshall, my dad’s sister’s grandfather, came into possession of the painting. The exact story is lost but the painting eventually ended up with my grandma and then went to my dad before making it’s way to me. I have a few things from Sam Marshall (dad’s sister’s dad) including a nice set of wood working tools.