Preparation for our upcoming studio sale

 

Fiona and I are holding a studio sale on 19 November at our Deckled Edge Press studio. Today I was sanding cement items in preparation for the sale -  including the hearts above. There are also candle burners, stones, cubes. The hearts in the opening photo have such a soft form though they are made from raw cement - they measure 50mm across.

I started with a bench full of bits that needed sanding - you can see from the back of the candle burner there can be quite a bit to tidy up.

Photos of some of the finished bits follow. The cube with the brass bits included in it is a solid 110mm cement cube.

A photo of the stash packed up to take down to the DEP studio; and faceted hearts.

This was a good task to do today given Fiona and I are still not up to full speed after the trip home.

Beauty from spring morning

 

Fiona and I have arrived home to spring - buds and flowers abound. This blog post simply shares some of that beauty including the swamp orchids above at Deckled Edge Press. The Jackaranda trees are also filling out with purples blossom - and did I mention the blue sky and sunshine this morning!!!

More beauty follows.

Plus some orchids at G's orchid house.

Such beauty lifts the spirit and gives pause for hope.

As we leave - more cove stone

 

During the week I worked on carving a wee conical depression into one of the incredibly hard stones from the local fishing cove. The stone sits alongside one that I carved on the previous trip - see the last photo in this blog post. Who knows - maybe the whitish stone might be carved next time to make up the trio.

A few process photos follow - the carving took 5-6 hours - the stone was incredibly hard.

A couple of the completed stone.

In my mind the depressions are a reflection of Pictish cup carvings found on Pictish stones. The stones of course reflect the ancient landscape; and of course the connection with the cove and fishing industry. Quite a fitting way to round off this visit to the cottage.

A couple of wee watercolours

 

I have completed a couple of postcard sized watercolours using Derwent graphite tint watercolour pencils.

The one above is of a stone cottage with a rusted corrugated iron roof and a small ruin beside it at Talmine Beach. The one below is of a stone ruin beside the road between Altnaharra and Hope in the Scottish highlands. The colours are a bit distorted by the interaction of the light in the cottage kitchen and the iPhone camera.

On this trip over to the cottage I have been  attempting to record a few memories in a different art form. I'm still learning   how the colours transform when the water is added to the pencil colours.

Morning light from the headland and other fragments

 

There will only be one or two more walks to the cove during this visit before we head south to catch our flight home; but each morning walk reveals its own beauty - including the light in the panorama above - Fiona in the foreground with fishing huts to the right.

Reflected sunrise.

Grey light and a very windy morning this morning.

Looking towards the Orkney islands from the Thurso supermarket carpark yesterday afternoon - clear day and sunshine!!! The Orkney mainland is 1.5 hours by ferry from Scrabster-Thurso.

It will be hard to say farewell to the Highland cottage; but then again we have the beauty that surrounds our Maleny cottage.

The beauty of stones

 

I have been fortunate to collect a few stones from the cove stone beach. I have added an additional dimension to them by grinding grooves as you can see from the photo above - the stones have been given a light oil to enhance the colours. The shininess will disappear as the oil is absorbed by the stones.

I started with a selection of stones that felt good in the hand and had a certain visual appeal; and then marked them up before grooving them with a diamond blade in my angle grinder. The work is guided by the marked up lines; but in the end the work is a bit freehand as I simply support the stones on a sand filled leather pad. 

Grooved stones done this visit. The grooves encircle the stones except for the simple crosses.

Some of these stones will make their way to Maleny - a strong memory of place in Scotland.