Droplets and wallabies

 

Beautiful soft rain last night - just what we wanted for all the new native shrubs and bushes we have planted down the back. My walk was in misty rain this morning - still it offered so many micro droplets - above (droplets in a spent banksia blossom) and below (including a little sculpture we have placed on the walkway) and love those very blue little blossoms.

We had a early morning visitor to the area we have just planted out. Initially I thought the wallaby was going to have a munch on one of the new bushes - but turned out it was just an inspection.

On my walk I saw 3 other wallabies - two in the paddock next to our village and the little one below on the verge in Palm street.

A gorgeous morning of renewal. May we continue to discover moments and fragments of delight in 2021.

A small installation

 

I made a commitment to create a small leaf installation to replace a large strange plastic apple that sat on a post outside the communal building in our village. The photo above is one of the installation now in place. 

At the same time I created the leaf forms for the above installation I made a set of leaf forms to create a version of my Bending sculpture-installation (photos below) - but in the end the leaf forms sold as two small installations on Christmas eve. See earlier blog on the making of the leaf forms.

Following are photos of the installation of the village sculpture - photos  courtesy of Graham and Fiona. It was a hot afternoon - Barry and Fiona looking their best to stay cool whilst installing the sculpture on timber blocks - we found a second block tucked away in the shrubs.

Initially I intended to install 9 leaf forms on rods on one timber block - but I took 11 with us in case we wanted to use more or at least to have choice. As it turned out because we had two blocks one ended up with 7 and the second with 3. The remaining single piece was nestled into the corner between the two blocks - see the second last photo. 

It was a good way to finish the year in the lead up to Christmas. The solid aluminium rods are not glued into place so the leaf forms have some ability to be moved around - bit of interactive fun I'm sure.

Joy, hope and peace

 

A wee blog with photos from our early morning walk. Sending thoughts and vibes out into the ether. May folk find moments of joy, hope and peace at this time and in the time ahead.

A sign of hope - a pair of mudlarks were working swiftly to build a new mud nest.

This small installation of Fiona's says it all - peace and a heart for love - a little rusty and a bit frayed but still holding on.

Go well and be safe.

A festive flower or two

 

I spied the above flower on my walk this morning - I thought it looked rather festive. It was about 12cm in diameter.

A few gorgeous blossoms from our block; and from the walk.

Graham has so many orchids appearing - so a few to share here.

Hoping you can find moments of joy, peace over the Christmas holiiday time.

Bending sculpture; and new poster on gender equality

 

A mixed bag of a weekend - I finished two sets of Bending sculpture-installation (one with 15 leaf forms and another that will in fact have 10 {3+7}). I also printed a poster on gender equality - reasonably large and a limited edition of 5.

The bundle of leaf rims above are for the Bending with 15 leaf forms.  I call the sculpture Bending as it was inspired a long time ago by bending leaves and grasses. It is a light weight sculpture that can be moved around and vibrates in the breeze. 

A few rushed photos of Bending set up temporarily out the front of our new place. The 15 leaf Bending is for sale; and the 10 leaf version will be installed in the grounds of our housing village.

Below is the finished stash of the 10 leaf version on the workshop floor. The set above have 60cm long stems and about 20cm long leaves. The set below have stems about 40cm long as they are to be set in blocks of wood.

I continue to be disturbed by the gender inequality; and the little progress and recognition of it by our government. This poster is a simple call to ongoing action. The poster is 62cm long and 35cm wide - printed on 300 gsm paper with vintage wood type 6.5cm and 7.5cm.

A good creative weekend given how tired we all seem to be at this year's end.

Men at work!!!

 

I introduced a couple of young men to metal. I offered to have the nephews of a friend spend an afternoon (3 hours) in the metal workshop - they were on holidays in Maleny.

I don't teach metal work as such; but from time to time I work with folk to introduce them to the skills of the 'trade'.  After a bit of a yarn it was decided that they were going to try to make a few things for their mum - a small bowl, a riveted pendant and, time permitting, a set of leaf earrings. You will see from the last photo that they achieved all three. 

A few process photos follow.

One of the young men had a broken arm so his holding ability was hampered a bit - I needed to hold metal from time to time. We overcame the inability to get a glove on his plastered hand by fitting leather finger gloves.

Given they had not done this work before - and were not really familiar with tools I think they did well - they were very happy and hoped their mum will be as well. They had to do all the work - I did none of the work for them. They even did the riveting.

When I do this work with folk I put a lot of effort into workshop safety  - so goggles, gloves, closed shoes etc were required.