Rustnstuff: 07/13

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

The colours of the day

My early Wednesday morning was filled with colour - both at home and on the walk to Treehaven Way. I took a few photos with the trusty iPhone.

The cool blue of the sky; and small crescent of moon.

Hanging strips of bark against a deep grey sky.

Flowers along the way.

The colour of rust in and around the large fire pit that is filled with water and overshadowed by a Tree Fern.

Such a beautiful crisp and clear morning - visual feast.

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Over the weekend I have continued my making of pieces and products for our Paths to Peace and Stillness exhibition in late August-September.

I have been using some of the offcuts from all the silver-plated EPNS trays I cut up to get the pages for our commission.

But as you can see from the photo below sometimes the recycled metal has been stressed quite a lot in its first incarnation; so taking the curves out of a tray and putting new ones in to form a bowl sometimes just takes the metal too far; and you end up with cracks as you can see in the photo.

©Barry Smith - Fractured metal

And when one goes to extremes and tries to punch some of that curved metal into a tight half a sphere it also over stretches and rips the metal as you can see on the right hand side of the sphere below.

©Barry Smith - Roughly hammered metal sphere (about 3.5cm in diameter)

©Barry Smith - Roughly hammered and polished metal sphere (about 3.5cm in diameter)

The sphere making was influenced by the moon shots earlier in the week. I thought the unpolished sphere with lots of solder splatter looks quite moonlike. It has come up ok with a polish. The sphere was a bit of a side experiment as break away from production - bit rough but it has potential.

Below are the stash of Daily Word bowls - hammered but not polished. The cracked bowl is in the centre. I will still polish it as I think it has some appeal with its fracture lines.

And I did manage to make another circular Personal Shrine - again based on my moon and star theme.

The personal shrine is quite small - about 200mm in diameter - formerly the rack or stand to hold 8 plate coasters. I think the smallness makes it even more personal or intimate.

Friday, July 26, 2013

Again the moon

We have been having some weird weather over here lately. A cold front came though creating clear night skies just in time for the full moon. It was quite cold when we took the rubbish bin to the top of the drive on Tuesday evening; and Fiona said that "the moon looks brilliant but I'm not staying out here in the freezing cold to photograph it". Several minutes later and an additional layer or two I was out there - alone.

As you can see from the sequence of photos, I have taken: moonrise (Tuesday evening); early morning (before sunrise - Wednesday morning); after sunrise; and moon setting (in broad daylight).

Moonrise

Early morning before sunrise - still dark - but ok to walk given the clear bright moonlight.

Sunrise - when I arrived back fro my walk.

Moonset - after the porridge ands coffee were sorted.

Talk about a fading moon. All photos were taken with Canon PowerShot SX50HS. Many were taken with lens set at 200 zoom magnification. Definition and clarity on some photos have been adjusted through the editing process.

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Nature continues the work on the book wall

In late March I started the process of building The Book Wall (The Wall). In late April it was all but completed but had to pause because I had temporarily run out of books. The Wall is about 12m long and .7m high. The wall contains about 700-750 books - many are quite thick hardbacks.

Well within a week of doing that post I got another stash of books and so completed the wall in early May. So the wall has been in place for about 3 months now. After Fiona's dad had added some orchids; and we have had quite a bit of rain; and I backfilled the wall with Cyprus Pine chips (looks good and keeps termites away) - the wall is now looking established and 'lived in'.

So a good time to share some photos on the change process.

I expect that mould, moss, fungi and orchids will gradually change the structure and look of the wall - but I see that as nature adding to the beauty of this structure as the clear look of the books is replaced by the mystery of integration of the plant life and books - living books.

Sunday, July 21, 2013

A bounty of bowls

In preparation for Fiona and my Paths to Peace and Stillness exhibition in August-September some things are being created in multiples.

Over the last little while this has included making bowls of various sizes for various purposes.

Three leaf foldformed bowls for incense burners.

Small punched bowls that will go on the personal shrines.

And larger bowls that will hold Fiona's porcelain peace and stillness scrolls.

The collection is growing......

Friday, July 19, 2013

Sometimes art is hard work

Today I spent a few hours cutting up metal in preparation for creating pages for a commission that Fiona and I will be working on over the next couple of months.

I just love the colours and personal history that can be attached to the pieces of recycled trays. See the makers mark on the 'discoloured' metal of one of the small trays - you can see the maker has over-stamped the beginning of the word Inverell - so much like my stamping sometimes.

I needed to salvage 24 small pages about 8cmX12cm. You can see I marked up where I was going to cut each of the trays.

Cutting resulted in heaps off offcuts on the 'floor'; and the stash of pieces which were then hammered flat on the anvil.

Each of the pages needed to be finally cut by hand with the jewellers shears to ensure they were 'neatish' and to size. You can see I have the pieces I need.

And one can't help but like the scratched and marked piece below.

So the preparation is done - after all that work I think I might deserve a glass of red?

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Rainbows and valley views

I have been off the internet waves for a few days as I have a burst blood vessel in my left eye - spontaneous. It looked (and still does) pretty darn ugly. It looks like a zombie eye - a green iris surrounded totally by blood - hope I have not put you off you food. Anyway after many visits to eye folk we have been told it is not sinister; it has not damaged my sight; and it will resolve itself in about a month. So I'm on light duties this week; and my creativity is in the main limited to photos.

I caught a lovely winter rainbow from the louvre window and the reflection off stainless steel pots that combined on the stone kitchen bench top.