Resilient grevilleas and other fragments

 

One of our words for today was resilience - so important in challenging times. As I walked I observed the number of grevillea bushes that continue to produce intricate blossoms - they could become a reminder during the year to persist and be resilient!!! Some of the grevillea beauty is above and below.

Still there are many other roadside bushes that create vistas of colour.

The collection of blossoms in the following image made me smile - it suggested a group of stick people peering out of the foliage; and on a closer look you can see a smily face on the centre yellow bit.

May we be open to the beauty around us so that it can lift us in challenging times.

Looking back at 2025

 

I'm glad that I have this blog (Rustnstuff) to remind me what I have done art wise over the last twelve months. A lot of folk keep journals to refer to - my Rustnstuff is my journal. It is where I try to record what I'm making and doing in my art practice. It is where I share some bits and pieces of my making processes.

The following reflections are not necessarily in either chronological order or order of importance - they are simply reflections of things that I know are important to and for me.

Studio transition

In a sense 2025 started and is ending on a similar note - heaps of planning and work related to the closure of our public studio gallery and the transition to smaller home based spaces. In January 2025 Fiona and I confirmed  our decisions on what metal type that would go forward with us in 2026. We decided that we would take one antique cabinet of type with us - see the opening photo. Given we had 4 type cabinets I committed to sorting and shuffling type around until we had created our cabinet and had the other 3 sorted for sale. We moved our type cabinet to its new home based home in mid December. This transition is important for Fiona and I and will in a partially define our art practice in the coming years.

Watercolours

Who would image that watercolour art would become such a satisfying part of my art life - but there you are. In 2025 I built on the work I started in 2024 and through my art group with Megan Bice I tried my hand at paining old buildings, abandoned boats, birds and more recently doors and windows.  One of the highlights was taking over 20 building and boat watercolours to Scotland to show and sell - but more on that later.

iPhoneography on Wednesday

Many years ago I started taking photos with my iPhone's camera because Fiona and I were travelling in remote areas for work  and art wise I needed something simple and portable - so iPhone photography entered my art life. I have now been doing iPhoneography on Wednesday for well over 10 years. But the reason for doing it have changed. These days I take the photos and blog on them because the discipline encourages me to see small bits of beauty in daily life and secondly I think sharing these bits might just bring a bit of joy to others as well. The beetle image is from 2015 whereas the orchid on a tree is from 2025.

Sculpture with a young friend

I don't teach art - but I sometimes have art playdays with folk to share the beauty of creating and/or to start folk on an art path. I have done this with my metal work in the past; but this year a young person asked if he could join me in the Scotland Studio aka Garden Shed to make a garden assemblage for his family. He had seen the many assemblages in the front of our cottage. What a joy it was to go through the design, piece selection and using tools to create the following garden assemblage with this young person. That experience has led to further projects - what a joy.

Blurb book

One of the themes in my art is mindfulness. This has found expression in Daily Leaf Word sets and a limited addition letterpress booklet. The letterpress booklet contains 7 short poems I wrote. The poems reflect the 7 words on the 7 leaf forms in the daily word sets. This year I decided to challenge myself by taking this work one step further and publish a Blurb book that combined my poems and original subtle photos I have taken over time as part of my iPhoneograpy.

Pop Up Art Show

As mentioned in my reflections on watercolours I took over 20 boat and building watercolours to Scotland. Fiona and I had arranged for us to hold a two day Pop uP Art Show in the Armadale Community Hall on 17-18 May. I have included this as one of the significant things because I feel it was not only a success in sales terms; I think it also introduced our local  community to us as artists; and seemed to bring joy as well. I'm sure Fiona will give a better reflection on this event in her blog on her achievements for 2025.

Mindful metal

A simple thing I do is to melt salvaged pewter and turn it into hearts and stars to give away. The hearts are stamped with the words - go gently. It never ceases to amaze me that the gifting of the go gently hearts seems to occur at the right time for many folk. They tend to provide solace or help folk hold on to memories and love. This is a practice that definitely will go forward into 2025. The stars simply remind folk to see themselves as stars and for them to shine.

Narrative exhibition

I took part in the local Narratives Exhibition in the Little Red Cottage gallery in May this year. My work was a metal artists' book made from a small antique fire extinguisher and letterpress printed pianola roll paper that I made for an earlier exhibition - not a local one and not one in the hinterland. I enjoyed the fact that I was exhibiting with other local artists - part of the Maleny artist community. A bonus was that my artists' book sold to a local collector. 

International Day of Peace

Fiona and I have a commitment to promoting peace how and when we can. Each year we print and distribute peace weather grams so that they can be hug in many places on International Day of Peace. If we are in our Maleny home our weather grams are installed in the magnolia tree out the front of our house. If we are in Scotland they go up on the barbed wire fence near the cottage. We know this is but small gesture but and gesture for peace is important.

Biblio

A crazy name for a beautiful art activity. One or two mornings a week Fiona and I have a simple breakfast at a local coffee place be it in Maleny or Scotland. We take the time out to sit and read art related books and/or articles. This past year I have spent quite a bit of time reading Scottish poets. This in turn has led me to begin to draft short poems that are reactions to photos I have taken whilst at the cottage in Scotland. The photos have focussed on liminal lines, Scotland moons, the flow country, fences. 

Whilst this blog post is a bit rough and rushed it does try to share the fact that Fiona and I really value our art life and hope that in 2026 we will continue to develop our practice; but also continue to do those activities that bring us joy and hopefully bring a little joy and hope to others.

End of an era

 

When I was printing the 2026 NY cards I realised that it would be the last print run that I would do in the large public studio gallery space we have operated for the last 6 years including through covid times.

The next lot of printing will be done in a much smaller home based space.

I also rather like that the last print run was done with deep purple/violet - such lovely patterns on the inking plate when it was time to clean up - opening and closing images.

Process photos including print in the press and proofs.

Filling the drying racks.

And the final outcome.

It was a good feeling knowing that the final print run would also be the new beginning for the new year.  

I really do hope that we can all take the time to gather small moments/bits of beauty; be open to the small joys of life; take what actions we can to bring about change; and above all reach out to others in kindness.

A distorted study of bats and clouds at dusk-sunset

 

I say distorted study because virtually all the photos are out of focus. In my defence they were taken in fading light and the bats were on the wing, far away and not waiting for any finesse with the iPhone camera. However, I do quite like the slightly surreal other worldly look of the images.

This is my last iPhoneopgraphy on Wednesday photos for 2025.

Ready for pick up

 

The two posts I was asked to create are now ready to be picked up by their owner- an image of the two posts together can be seen above.

Fiona and I are in the middle of a hectic period of work closing our large public studio-gallery space and creating new studio spaces at home. This includes heaps and heaps of sifting, sorting and setting up in the new spaces. Whilst we have been able to reuse much of the furniture and storage cupboards etc - the smaller spaces have also required us to buy and build some smaller IKEA pieces which we have assembled over the last couple of days.  All this is code for the fact that we are not getting much-any time to create - so we probably won't be blogging on our work much over the next few weeks.

Following are some additional photos of the two posts - particularly the taller post - images show the different faces of the post. The taller post continues my reflection of the local creek that looks after the platypus and provides water to the local catchment area. Creating the taller post used up my stash of rusty bits - I added some salvaged-gifted brass strips to this post - first time I have added patinated and worn brass to an assemblage.

I think both these posts have worked out well and should take good vibes with them into their new home.