It was a cold morning made bitter by a biting breeze. A couple of photos of the cold dark clear morning light follow.
My hoodie was up so my eyes were mainly looking down at the ground hugging blossoms - but there were a couple of glimpses of the big blue sky as in the opening photo and the one below.
On to those looking down photos.
A walk to G's orchid house offered some morning smiles - unusual bi-coloured crucifix orchid.
Even on a bitter breeze day there are fragments of pre spring beauty.
It has been a very busy weekend looking after visitors and getting parcels ready to send to Scotland. But I did need a little creative hit so I decided to make a small cube ( 62mm cube) using one of the aluminium plates with etched circles and to create a counter point I carved lines into another plate that had not been etched. Completed cube above.
I cut a 55mm wooden cube; and as you can see I have clad it in aluminium plate using solid brass nails. Some process photo follow.
.jpeg)
And of course the cube from a couple of different angles. Each of the six faces is different.
What am I going to do with it I hear you ask - at this stage I have no idea - just created because I thought it would look grand.
I have etched the plates for the five posts that are to be erected in the MNC grief garden. Each post will have an etched plate with a word on the front face and a heart symbol (such as the above) on the top.
The aluminium plates were etched with a mixture of copper sulphate and table salt. Below - mixing the potion, bubbling brew and copper residue floating to the top. The face of hearts and words sit about .3-.4mm above the etched metal - see the L towards the end of the blog post.
The paint used to stop the hearts and words being etched away was removed with nail polish remover when the plates were etched, and cleaned.
Some photos of the finished plates.
I need to drill some holes in the plates so they can be attached to the posts.
So many birds feeding on nectar- see photos below of a tiny brown honey eater and others.
Many blossoms were touched with refreshing droplets from a light shower of rain overnight.
And others just showing promises of colour.
G's orchid house is also offering joy.
An uplifting morning.
We have been to Melbourne for a few days for work and catching up with friends.
We were staying in the city centre so go a few opportunities to wander down laneways to check out the wall art. I like the contrast the above piece offers - maybe a gentle, peaceful snow white archetypal female; but in this case holding a large bomb.
A few more fragments follow - some for their scale, some for their messages and some for their quirkiness.
A photo of the wall reflected in a puddle - but I think the phone camera was having trouble working out what was back to front - all a bit scrambled!!!
And a couple of others: one from our accommodation window; and looking at the refracted light in a large chandelier during a conference presentation!!1
Great trip away; but also good to be back on the mountain.
I have completed my third piece for the Vessel exhibition. It is titled Destroyed. It represents the one hundred small open fishing boats that were destroyed in one year on the northern shore of the Sutherland Estate between Portskerra and Rabbit Island - about 50klms (Donald MacLeod, Letter XI to the Editor of the Edinburugh Weekly Chronicle).
I have displayed the elements of the installation (boats with torn sails, smashed hulls of boats and a pile of timber flotsam) on very shiny black perspex that shows some good reflections; but might also give a nod to a deep dark dangerous ocean.
