Rustnstuff: 01/20

Friday, January 31, 2020

Decluttering and garage sale

The studio decluttering process that started in December is now reaching its end point. The image above shows the stash of old soldering iron that have been de-handled and will be installed in/0n a log soon.

The photo below shows that I have reduced my number of hammers down to those I actually use.

Then so much of the stuff I used in Artisan Lamps and other art and jobs on the block will now be recycled through a garage sale tomorrow.

It has been a big process but also liberating.

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Blossoms on the block

My walk this morning was on the block - checking out the growth after our recent rain; and of course checking out the weeds. Sharing a couple of Graham's orchids first - looking healthy with lots of droplets.

And more plants with droplets.

The pumpkin vines have gone crazy and are invading the 'sculptures' on the gravel outside the shed studio.

So grand to see the plants so revived and active.

Sunday, January 26, 2020

A wee linocut

I managed to do the first cut of a small postcard size lino cut. It is of a Coast Coffee stop between Armadale and Bettyhill in the Scottish Highlands.

A few of the process photos.

A few of the proofs using different papers and printing techniques.

The lino cut has potential - detail to be reworked.

Friday, January 24, 2020

A couple more 'art' installations on the block

Fiona and I continue on our merry way cleaning the block and sorting our stockpiles. I committed to chainsawing the remaining logs so they could be used as cube installations and large bench seats. Fiona really helped by setting up the logs for sawing and measuring and marking up the logs to get the most out of them. And a good stash resulted as you can see from below.

This morning we moved all but three of the cubes down onto the sculpture terraces to create another cube installation as you can see from the photo at the start of the post. All that is left are the two benches and three 200mm cubes.

We also took seven rusted bbq burners and installed them under one of the camellias - they look a bit like a grouping of people - silent sentinels.

A good outcome in terms of decluttering and adding to the block.

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

A little friend and other fragments

The water dragon above and below stayed by me feet for about 30minutes as I sat on a shaded bench seat in town waiting for Fiona to finish a meeting this morning.

What about this odd reflection in the glass of the mountains in the east superimposed over the range in the west - seen from only one angle in the house before heading out for my walk.

The blossoms below were captured when we went down the back to do some pruning yesterday.

And those below were bits of brightness from my walk this morning.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Mainly about gravel - but also antler and horn

This year Fiona and I decided that finally we would tackle the bare area under the house. It has always been a bit of an eye saw. So we decided to have slats install;and gravel the area in front of them. On Thursday we finished painting the slat so then it was over to me to gravel.

I ordered 3 cubic meters of drainage gravel - good for holding the soil in place and surprising weeds. Over the weekend I did three sessions of shovelling, hauling and spreading grave. It has to be done by hauling buckets of gravel. I used about one cubic meter - about 150-170 buckets. Looking good so far - hope to be finished by next weekend.

I did set aside a couple of hours to finish the antler earrings and pendants; and also finished off a couple of black buffalo horn pendants.

Quite a few pendants on the shelf in the display case.

Friday, January 17, 2020

Fragments of time and antler

The work on the block in January continues; and time for art is snatched here and there. Today I got a couple of hours to progress the antler jewellery I have been working on. I managed to finish a couple of pair of organic twig like antler earrings. after spending time grinding and polishing the pieces.

A shelf in one of my display cabinets has an interesting range of earrings I think.

I am experimenting with the earrings and pendants that are made from the antler cross sections. The inner part of the antler is made up of a brown lattice of bonelike substance. I wanted to see if it was possible to fill the lattice with glass resin and in the case of one pendant and the pair of earrings also colour the lattice with permanent marker ink.

The glass resin takes about 24 hours to fully cure so I might get to finish the pendants and earrings over the weekend