Completion can take time

©2017 Barry Smith - Stone reflections

I spent most of today at Little Yabba Creek putting finishing touches to the sculpture and post. The sculpture was inspected yesterday and passed muster except that I need to seal the concrete it was set in.

©2017 Barry Smith - Concrete sealant brings out the colour of the stones

The post was not due for inspection until I had installed the stainless steel cap and attached the four signs as I had not finished the work on it - including filling surface cracks and giving it another couple of coats of timber finish. But it was inspected anyway; and suggestions were made regarding improvements.

So I sanded the post, filled the surface cracks, gave it two more coats of Ultradeck finish; and also installed the cap. The cap was glued to the top of the post with the equivalent of a full large tube of silicon sealant-glue.

©2017 Barry Smith - Surface cracks - before

©2017 Barry Smith - Surface cracks - after

©2017 Barry Smith - I think the stainless steel cap is level!

©2017 Barry Smith - Stainless steel cap and wood

During my work there I had about about 10 visitors. Quite a lot of question regarding the work and lots of praise for the poetry and sculpture.

©2017 Barry Smith - Visitors who wanted a photo after a long chat about the work

The sculpture and post looked great as the sun was going down as I left the site.

©2017 Barry Smith - Buttress Root in the late afternoon light without the security fencing

©2017 Barry Smith - Buttress Root in the late afternoon light without the security fencing

I think a wine will be well deserved tonight.

Rest

We have had a few days away from the mountain - some recuperation time - walking on the beach and visiting some small towns - and sleeping. Below are a few images of that time.

  

 

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Partners in the press

Whilst I said I was going to do further work on the peace leaves I got somewhat sidetracked.

I joined Fiona as her assistant doing a tricky letterpress run that had to be resisted to fit around an etched plate she had done.

©2017 Barry Smith - Our 1890 Lightning Jobber letterpress

I know Fiona will do a blog post on her work; but below I share some a few photos of the work of our 1890 Lightning Jobber letterpress. Such a gorgeous piece of machinery.

©2017 Barry Smith - Doing a bit of proofing to get the alignment right

©2017 Barry Smith - Fiona changing a couple of letter that were not printing correctly

©2017 Barry Smith - A study of concentration as Fiona sets the next sheet in place

©2017 Barry Smith - Good to go

©2017 Barry Smith - Quite a nice run of prints - some choice there in terms of what to keep

It was a thoroughly relaxing afternoon working through all the stages of the letterpress printing process. Can't wait to do more of it. I used to do a bit letterpress printing in my early days and forgot how much I enjoyed it.

©2017 Fiona Dempster - Able assistant on wheel duty

Hammering out peace

©2017 Barry Smith - Old oyster knife used as part of the first opening process

As I was hammering the peace leaves for International Peace Day (21 Sept) I was reminded of the saying about turning swords into ploughshares. Of course in my case it is hammering silver-plated trays into peace leaves.

©2017 Barry Smith - Some tools of the trade - Anvil, recycled silver-plate and hammer

I really am in  production mode. I want 210 good peace leaves so I'm making about 230 to give me choice. I'm about two thirds of the way through hammering the folded leaf shaped blanks into folded leaf forms.

©2017 Barry Smith - Folded leaf forms

©2017 Barry Smith - First lot of hammered folded leaf forms - love this tiny hammer

I have managed to do the first opening of about a third of the hammered forms.

©2017 Barry Smith - Part of the stash of one-third of the hammered and partially opened leaves

©2017 Barry Smith - Part of the stash of one-third of the hammered and partially opened leaves

Over the weekend I'm trying to get all leaves hammered and fully opened for the last stage of grinding and polishing.

This last week has been given over to remediating the site of the Buttress Root sculpture; and attending to the affairs of my good friend who died suddenly in Jakarta three weeks ago.

Dark morning sights and fragments of colour

According to the inter-web winter solstice occurred today at 1.54pm in the southern hemisphere - so the days are going to get longer right?

This morning's walk started in near dark - grey light on the horizon as I set off.

©2017 Barry Smith - Bare tree and powerlines against a morning sky - looking east

And darkness in the valley with the mountains silhouetted against the glow of the lights of Brisbane and the Port of Brisbane.

©2017 Barry Smith  - Dark morning valley view - looking south

A sickle moon and morning star in the grey sky.

©2017 Barry Smith  - Star and moon and powerlines  (iPhone)

©2017 Barry Smith - Winter solstice morning star and moon (Canon Powershot)

©2017 Barry Smith - Winter solstice morning moon (Canon Powershot)

Gradually the grey gave way to orange on the horizon.

©2017 Barry Smith - Blush of sun in the eastern sky

©2017 Barry Smith - Orange pool of street light still visible in the distance 

On my way home I noticed the first of the wattle blossom was out - delicate balls of pile yellow.

©2017 Barry Smith - Wattle blossom

The morning sun filtered through the kitchen widow and highlighted the micro blossoms of the orchid on the side of the kitchen sink.

©2017 Barry Smith - Micro (1cm) orchid blossoms bathed in morning sunlight

Dark beauty and colour abounds.

Buttress Root Sculpture - finished - all but

After such a long development, fabrication and installation process the Buttress Root sculpture is all but finished - last bit of site tidying and final clean and the work on it is done.

Whilst it is looking good in the fenced enclosure it will looked so much better when it is able to just be part of the landscape. The site fence will be removed once the last bit of site remediation is done; and it has been inspected by Sunshine Coast Council. But for now I can share some images as it currently sits within it's enclosure.

©2017 Barry Smith - Looking towards the Mary River - and no the post is not crooked - plumbed on all sides

©2017 Barry Smith - Looking towards Little Yabba Creek and the bridge and remnant forest

©2017 Barry Smith - Looking towards Little Yabba Creek and the bridge 

©2017 Barry Smith - River stones on the base of the trunk section - as you can see cleaning yet needs to be done

©2017 Barry Smith - A sinuous root section with a small river of Mary River stones

©2017 Barry Smith - End of the root with Mary River Stones

©2017 Edith-Ann Murray - Barry and Fiona placing river stones

I will still need to glue a stainless steel cap to the post and attach the four A4 sheets of stainless steel to each face of the post. Three sheets will be the full poems - excerpts of which are on the sculpture's root; and the fourth face will acknowledge funders, sponsors and the artist etc.