Sunday, July 19, 2015

The this and that of art

Over the weekend I continued to work on the lettering for the 5 peace posts I have been commissioned to make. But before that a couple of other matters.

I restored the Iona Cloisters piece that Fiona and I did a few years ago for her folks. The timber had warped a bit and the doors had seriously tarnished. So I reset the doors and gave them a good polish. Fiona's calligraphy was still in good shape. The piece looks like new again.

©2015 Barry Smith - Old brass doors on Iona Cloisters piece (about 300mm square)
And a couple of photos I took when I attended the opening of the Books by Artists exhibition on Thursday evening.

©2015 Barry Smith - Fiona with her powerful little book - Subversive Stitch
©2015 Fiona highlights features of artists books to her brother and sister in-law
Fiona helped me select the fonts for peace in: Gaelic, Moroccan, Japanese, English and Italian-latin. I have made paper templates to transfer the letters to my aluminium panels. Love the cutouts left over from the process.

©2015 Barry Smith - Letters - printed and glued ready for cutting
©2015 Barry Smith - Letters - printed and glued ready for cutting
©2015 Barry Smith - Letter cutouts on silky oak
©2015 Barry Smith - Peace
©2015 Barry Smith - Peace in Gaelic
I wanted to test out some pens to use as resist when I come to etch the letters. The paint marker worked best.

©2015 Barry Smith - Testing resist - pink-paint pen, blue-metal marker pen and red-permanent marker pen
©2015 Barry Smith - The shiny I is the result of the paint pen


I have transferred the letters to the panels; and also the leaf motifs. I traced the outlines with a paint pen and blocked letters and leaves in with shellac.


©2015 Barry Smith - Letters and leaf forms - resist in place ready for etching!!!!



Next week I hope to build my etching bath; and do the copper sulphate and salt etching under Fiona's guidance.

3 comments:

  1. Fascinating Barry, and now I'm looking forward to the next steps. These will be stunning!

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  2. It's quite a process. Your peace walk will be amazing, once settled into the landscape.

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  3. Hi C & JM - the trouble with some art is that there is so much in the preparation - not a lot to show for all the work we put in - but then suddenly it all comes together - that is how I see these posts - well at least that is my vision (hope?). Go well. B

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Comments are welcomed - it is good to connect with fellow travellers.