Assemblage sculpture in the cottage grounds

 

We have been away from the cottage for 9 months or more. It is always a joy to reintroduce ourselves to the plants but also the assemblages Fiona and I have made and scattered about the grounds of the cottage.

This time I particularly like the combination of the daffodils and the assemblages such as in the case of the background to the cube in the opening photo.

Following are images of most of the pieces in no particular order or priority.

I like how the art ages and just seems to settle even more into the garden landscape. We don't have plans to make any more pieces in this trip.

Ready for pick up

 

The two posts I was asked to create are now ready to be picked up by their owner- an image of the two posts together can be seen above.

Fiona and I are in the middle of a hectic period of work closing our large public studio-gallery space and creating new studio spaces at home. This includes heaps and heaps of sifting, sorting and setting up in the new spaces. Whilst we have been able to reuse much of the furniture and storage cupboards etc - the smaller spaces have also required us to buy and build some smaller IKEA pieces which we have assembled over the last couple of days.  All this is code for the fact that we are not getting much-any time to create - so we probably won't be blogging on our work much over the next few weeks.

Following are some additional photos of the two posts - particularly the taller post - images show the different faces of the post. The taller post continues my reflection of the local creek that looks after the platypus and provides water to the local catchment area. Creating the taller post used up my stash of rusty bits - I added some salvaged-gifted brass strips to this post - first time I have added patinated and worn brass to an assemblage.

I think both these posts have worked out well and should take good vibes with them into their new home.

One finished, one progressing

 

As you can see from the above and following photos I have finished one of the posts I been working on. It looks good with the patinated copper bowl on the top - though it could be used without the bowl.

Following are a couple of process-progress photos.

I have also made quite good progress with the taller destination post - some progress photos follow.

Fiona and I are doing a lot of tasks to do with the closing down of our public studio and transitioning to smaller home based studios. Lots of sorting, selling, giving away and moving those pieces we will be keeping to continue our work. This means there is not a lot of time for creating - but we grab the moments we can.

Function and form sometimes

 

I have continued working on the post assemblage that will be at the entry to an orchid garden. It will have rusty elements to it - some of the rusty bits were laid out on the work bench - see above.

I have been asked to rout a garden name into the post - needed Fiona's assistance with the lettering and spacing - see image below of Fiona at work.

I routed over Fiona's work - not so neat when you are routing smallish letters into a cracked and hard piece of timber. The process-progress photos below show that the end result it pretty good and has an organic feel about it. The routed letters were inked and after a sand the face of the post was given a coat of oil.

As I mentioned above the timber has many splits; but there is one piece on the back of the post that threatens to split off. I decided to hold it in place with iron strips and long screws. At the end of the day these strips will rust and add a bit of decorative form to the post.

I have someway to go with this post but two of the bigger tasks have been done and I have many of the decorative pieces ready..

Garden bench seat

 

As you can see I finished the garden bench seat today. The seat is to sit along the pathway beside the communal orchard that is under development.

The main feature of the bench is a salvaged slab of eucalyptus. As you can see from the photo below I had to put in a plate under the slab to stop it splitting any further and trim the split and splintering end off.

The slab had been milled a bit roughly so I needed to spend quite some time sanding down ridges etc. But in the end it was worth it as the sanding and a coat of timber oil really highlighted the grain as can be seen in the opening and closing photos.

The legs and cross beam were made from salvaged cyprus pine timber and all looked a bit rough and a number of cut ends were on show. In the end I decided to paint the legs and cross beam to protect and integrate them better.

The bench is now ready for installation - maybe on Sunday weather permitting.

Post assemblage-sculpture

 

Over the weekend I have been working on a couple of small post assemblage-sculptures for our side garden. 

I almost completed one as you can see from the opening photo. The post is about 80-90cm tall and 15cm square. The timber is salvaged rose gum I think - an Australian hardwood. 

A few years ago I had made a bench seat for G to take a rest on as he did his daily walk. Later it was moved to near a post sculpture F and I did for the area we planted out when we came to live at the village - see photo below.

The area is being redeveloped so we removed the post sculpture which is now at the front of our home; we salvaged the top planks of the bench seat. The timber is a bit worse for wear - see photo below of the timber on the work bench; but we thought it  could be repurposed as small garden post sculptures.

Some of the process-progress photos follow. 

The timber looks better after a good sand with a belt sander. The squiggly groove routed freehand into the timber with a small can shaped router represents the local creek. As you can see from one of the progress photos the groove is painted with Japanese black ink so the line will stand out. Rusty bits are added from our rust stash - though there is not to choose from these days.

The posts are given another sand once the black ink dries to remove and 'smudges' etc.

If time permits I will finish the second post during the week; and then they will be installed.

Rearranging-refreshing

 

Fiona and I spent some of our creative time moving and rearranging some of our garden sculptural pieces. We did this because we want to see and appreciate some pieces more out the front of our home; and because by rearranging we see the pieces with new eyes.

The opening photo with early morning sunlight shows the arrangement we have achieved so far - I say so far because we will be adding to what is there and maybe achieving a different balance.

The following photos simply show some of the pieces in morning light.

I took a photo of the trio of posts across from our front door; but took it from behind as we rarely take the time to see things from different angles.