Upright and strong

 

I have reinstalled the Cove Post as you can see from the photo above. This time I have added some additional side timbers and concreted the post into place. Most photos in the post are courtesy of F.

A couple of process photos of removing the rope and puny rusted metal base and adding side timbers - burnt fence posts!!!

A few photos showing the rock removed from the post hole and the concreting process. A neighbour (Anna) gifted me a quarter of a bag of cement and gravel and sand mix for the job .

Another one of the installed post.

When the we have more clement weather I will tidy the site and take the rocks around the back for a wee stone wall project. I will also add a few rusted bits on top of the side timbers.

Fragments from the village - light, ice and horses

 

It has been a week of weather - mostly very cold with wind and rain. Still F and I have found gaps in the weather to do our morning walks to the cove - down to the stone beach but now also including walks above the cove to the far side headlands. The photo above is of me out on one of the headlands - taken by F. The photo below is of me looking up and photographing my shadow on the headland and F by the fence line at the top.

Some nice light on walks.

A few images of the gorgeous local horses.

And some of the snow and hail from one of those very cold days.

Beauty every day.

Picking up a few pieces

 We have been at the cottage for 4 days and are getting over the jet lag and beginning to pick up the pieces - literally and metaphorically. Literally as in planning to put new side supports on the Cove post that fell over in the big snow storm that occurred up here. The photo above shows the post is still in good condition; but will have a couple pf substantial timbers attached to the sides so that I can dig a deeper hole this time around.

Yesterday I met with Fiona and June at the Strathnaver Museum. I got the chance to check out the gallery space for my proposed exhibition in September in the new Annex. The displays in the new Annex are still being installed; but the photos below show that it will be a well lit space - including side window and track lights.

Fiona and I have walked to the cove each morning since our arrival - some days are a bit inclement - that means cold and wet. Our goal is to walk down the track to the stone beach on days when the rain is not making it too slippery. I picked up one stone on Wednesday to cut a cottage into. You can see the stone is marked up for cutting with a diamond blade.

It is always up-lifting to make small starts with one's art.

Random fragments from away and home

 

WE are making the transition from our Maleny home to our Armadale (cottage) home. Sharing a few fragments Armadale (late 2022).

And a few fragments from Maleny (2023).

We are so fortunate to have the opportunity to experience two gorgeous places.

Finishing metal cottages and boat hull form

 

Before travelling to Scotland I finished grinding and polishing 7 small melted metal (pewter) cottages that were hand formed in a graphite mould I carved. The cottages are about 3.5cm long, 2.4cm high and 2.1cm wide. I love how quite a few of the cottages ended up with a slight rainbow colouring as you can see in the photo above and below.

I also finished grinding and polishing a pewter boat hull form. I just love the rainbow colours on both the top and underside of the hull form.

I still experiment with adding other metals to the pewter to see what effect I get - creative fun - most often not able to replicate consistently.

Not sure of the name

 

I'm making an artists' book using left over pages, over prints and the stencils used in the creation of my book IT WONT'T DISMANTLE ITSELF - patriarchy that is - 3 copies - one original and two artist's proofs. That book is A3 in size. The back and front covers of the new book will feature over prints of the words avenges and uninvited hands as you can see from the opening photo. This book will be A4 in size; and will be unique.

I have made a small mockup of the book to ensure that each opening will feature a stencil used for embossing and spraying for the pages of the original book - see below.

The stencils are now covered in the black spray paint. You can see some of the progress photos following. The A3 pages are being cut down to A4 size.

The last page of the book is to feature the stencil that was used to emboss the cover of the original book - but after a discussion Fiona and I thought it needed a black border to help it to stand out. The making of and attaching the black border all went according to plan until I realised I had attached it to the wrong side of the stencil - very frustrating. You can see from the photos below it was not easy to remove the black paper frame - very good quality double sided tape.

But it ended well as you can see from the photo below.

I will probably have to wait until I return from Scotland to complete the book. I'm still not sure what to call the book - suggestions are welcome.