Stones for market and other matters

 

Fiona and I have a table at the Watten Craft Market tomorrow ( Saturday 31 May). 

We have a good range of pieces including Fiona's pebble inspired earrings, cards, art pieces, some of my wee watercolours, metal books, leaf spoons and stones with inlaid silver and brass wire.

I decided to make some more stones for holding in the hand. The opening photo shows some of the stones I have made. Below are a couple of photos of the making process.

On Wednesday our creative energy went into replacing the 'felting' on the roof of our workshop aka garden shed.

Fiona was a bit taken with the neat arrangement for the garden tools - her photo is quite artistic. Having a place for everything in the workshop-shed means we can use it comfortably for both purposes.

We hope to see heaps of folk at the Market to yarn to about our art; but of course sell a bit of our work.

Coffee with a view

 

Fiona and I went to Melvich on Monday to do a few chores after a morning of gardening. We thought we deserved a coffee so we decided to get a takeaway and head to Portskerra harbour. As you can see (above and below) we had a magnificent view out the windscreen of the car. 

It was quite a good weather moment so we decided on a quick stroll to the pier and shore - and of course we paused here and there for a photo or two. A few images from the stroll follow.

The experience was completely unplanned - but what serendipitous beauty.

Of stones & sculpture

 

We are so fortunate to be able to walk to the stone shore of the cove to enjoy the stones and collect a few for art - see cut stones above. 

During the week I got to take such a walk on a blue sky day and enjoy the shore at low tide; and immerse myself in stones - see below.

I chose those stones that will have metal inlaid into them and cut the grooves into them with the diamond blade in my angle grinder - see following photos.

Today I started the process of bending and cutting 1.5mm metal wire-rod (silver and brass) and fitting it into the grooves in preparation for glueing.

On Saturday I had a young 8 year old lad from the village join me in the workshop aka garden shed to assemble a sculpture he wanted two make for the garden at his family's place. He chose the bits of timber and rust from our stash; and he decided the layout himself. Together we assembled the piece. See photo of the piece below - completed on the work bench.

He had specifically chosen a heavy metal bracket that could hold the piece on another heavy block of timber so that the work would sit at an angle and could be moved around the garden - See photo below of the completed piece open the gravel outside the workshop.

The piece was delivered yesterday afternoon and installed in a spot in the home garden he had chosen. What a grand thing to start creating art at such a young age.

Bird commission

 

At the PopUp Art Show on the weekend I was asked if I could make 3 comfort birds before I headed back to Maleny. I did not promise I could; but said I would give it a go.

As you can see from the photo above I have made some progress with one of the birds. In the photos below you can see I'm attempting to carve the 3 birds together starting with cutting the timber blocks and marking the 3 up.

Other progress photos follow.

If I continue to make good progress whilst doing maintenance and other jobs around the cottage I should be able to deliver them before heading to our Maleny home.

From the ditches, roadside and rocky

 

The dry and 'warmer' weather is resulting in an abundance small flowers in the ditches-drains, by the roadside and in the rockery out the front of the cottage. Most of the flowers are 1-2.5cm in size.

This blog post shares some of this small beauty.

One of the benefits of the wee flowers is that one must pause, bend and squat to enjoy their delicate beauty.

Almost ready for the Pop-Up Art Show

 

Fiona and I have been doing the last bits of making and sifting and sorting for our  Pop-Up Art Show in our local (Armadale) village hall over the weekend (Saturday 17 and Sunday 18) 11am-4pm.

The opening photo shows my watercolours spread out on the second bedroom bed for inventory purposes. Of all the framed works I brought across from our Maleny home the glass was broken in only one. 

Since I have been here I have added to the stash of watercolours including the two below finished yesterday - the rushed photos don't show the colours accurately. In all I have about 35 watercolours for show and sale. All my watercolours are based on my own Scotland photos.

Fiona will be showing a stash of her pebble inspired earrings and pendants. Both of us will supplement our main bodies of work with other pieces including leaf inspired pieces, small metal books, small metal boats - and I have completed local stones with inlaid silver and brass rod and a couple of small birds carved from local birch wood.

This afternoon we have spent time on price tags, road signs (see photo below of F working on road signs) and sorting presentation materials including slates.

After I launch this blog post we will pack the car and head to the village hall to start the set up!!!!