Illustrative wood-burning inspired by forest myth, night skies, and quiet stories.
Watch the work
take shape
Process Videos, slow burning and studio life.
Featured & Represented
Where my work has been recognized, shared, and made available in the real world
Crozet Artisan Depot
A curated space for handmade work with soul. My pyrography lives here among other damn-good makers.
Rockfish Gallery & Gifts
Nestled in the Blue Ridge, this gallery showcases my work alongside fine art and regional craftsmanship.
The Artist
Smoky Wood Studios is the home of my original, hand-burned wood art, work shaped by fire, time, and a lifelong relationship with making things by hand.
I’m Petra Monaco. I’ve always been a creator. Wood just happened to be the material that finally listened.
From the Studio
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Living Between Surgeries: What Watching My Child Undergo Three Liver Transplants Taught Me About Endurance
There are moments that split your life into before and after.Not cleanly. Not politely. Just… permanently. For me, one of those moments happened in a hospital room where the light never quite turns off and time stops behaving like time. My child was small in a way that felt unbearable. Too still. Surrounded by machines