Wandering with wallabies, birds and orchids

 

I had a lovely time yesterday just watching and photographing (iPhone) two wallabies that were quietly feeding on the grass and garden below our townhouse. The photos were taken through glass windows so not as clear as could be - but clear enough to share and enjoy.

We seem to be heading into darker mornings - my walk this morning was a overcast and a slightly low light affair as you can see from the silhouettes of birds against the sky.

I checked out G's orchids on the way back - a few bits of joy to be had.

Such a contrast to the light and heat of a couple of weeks ago - but it has a gentle beauty of its own

Making a start on 100 small boats

 

An art piece I have planned includes 100 small boats with copper hulls and brass lug sail. The starting point is getting the material ready. After a morning of cutting I ended up with the 77 pieces in the opening photo. But before I could start the cutting process I need to go back and work out how I actually made the prototype boat hulls - it was a very long time ago.

It took a few goes at measuring, cutting and hammering as you can see from the following photos - but in the end I worked out that I need 100 pieces cut to 16cmX5cm; these then needed to be folded and cut to look like a blunt half leaf; then hammered along the fold rather than the edge which is the usual way to make a leaf; then un-folded and gently open on a stake; and finally grind the edges to finish the hull..

The following photo shows the metal templates and tools to create the upturned boat hull on the right.

So then it was a matter of cutting up a patinated copper hot-water tank using my metal guillotine.

I have cut up all of the patinated hot water tank metal so the remaining 20-30 blanks will be cut from some old oxidised but not patinated copper sheet gifted to me.

Choosing the right technique

 

I want to make a cluster of stone cottages for a planned exhibition piece. I want to carve them out of raw stone but left attached so that they look like they are still emerging from the stone. I think the one above and the one below are where I'm headed.

The two stones in the photo below give an idea of the starting point - water tumbled stones.

The following photos show three emerging cottages surrounded by the chips carved off the stones.

One lesson I have learnt is to check the stones carefully for fine cracks in the stones because inevitably during the carving process the stones will crack apart as you can see in the following photo. Another lesson is to choose stone that are of a uniform texture.

I am now comfortable with the selection of stones and the carving technique - so I should be right to carve stones in Scotland.

Rain, after the rain and orchids

 

What a difference a day makes - we have finally had a couple of storm showers to give us 34mm of rain, cool the temperature and brighten things up. Even the birds were wondering about the rain - at one time we had 6 currawongs sheltering on the rail on the back deck - opening photo is of 3 taken through the screen door. It did not take the plovers long to check out the morsels in the drain as the rain filled it.

The walk this morning was about freshness and droplets.

G's orchids looked quite lively as well.

A morning that made me smile.

The big cleanup

 

As part of our ongoing tradition, Fiona and I have been doing a bit of sorting, gifting and disposing of stuff as part of the end-beginning of year. We have been in our current home for just over two years now so we felt it was time to review what we had in my work shed and stored downstairs in the store room. We thought we might have a small garage sale.

We had talked to a few folk in our village and the resident's committee decided that we would have a village wide garage sale; and also order in a largish skip bin to dispose of rubbish.

I did no art work over the last few days as our time was given over to: transporting goods including stuff from my and other folk's work spaces as seen in the ute in the first photo; sorting; categorising; pricing; making signs; putting signs out; taking signs in  etc etc.

As a combined group we had a pretty huge array of and quantity of stuff. A few photos follow that don't do justice to the range and quantity. As well as the indoor space shown in the final photo we had two large outdoor display areas as well - big!!!!

We failed to take photos of the selling frenzy and post sale clean up; but suffice to say the outcome of a few days work was very good including a ute load taken to the local resource centre. Funds raised will go to improving the village community centre amenities and functioning.

This week I will oversee the collection of stuff for the skip; and the packing of the bin to maximise its capacity. In all of that Fiona and I did achieve our goal of moving stuff on that we were no longer using or in love with.

Installing rusted leaves and patinated bowl

 

The commissioned work that is made up of three large handcut Corten steel leaves and a large hand hammered patinated copper bowl on a 20cm square plinth has been installed as you can see from the photo above.

The installation was guided and enable by the dynamic installation trio you can see in the photo below.

A few of the installation photos follow.

We also tested how and where the negative space leaves might be installed in a back garden.

It it always pleasing to install works and celebrate them in place with the commissionee - bubbles were involved. Most photos were taken by Fiona.