Big achievement

 

I say big achievement - but what I really mean is that it is a big achievement for me. As you can see from the 'poetry in your pocket' booklets (What Remains, Farewelling the Light, and Flow Country ). 

Each of these A7 booklets contains 6 original photos and 4 original fragmentary poems by me. Each of the poems is a response to 4 of my photos. 

The booklets are printed on double sided matte finish 220gsm photographic paper. I have used the photographic paper to ensure the printed images are really crisp.  The paper had to be printed back to back - feeding from the back tray one sheet at a time!!! This however created a challenge. Because the paper is heavy and has a photographic finish it was almost impossible for Fiona to sew through the 4 layers of paper - and as you can see from the following image the end result was not attractive. 

The solution was to get Fiona to teach me again how to hand stitch the books. Process photos follow.

At the beginning I said I had'bound' the books - what I really meant is that each of the booklets are held closed with a band of photographic paper with a small image that repeats a key photo from the booklet. 

All in all I'm pleased with the achievement - from original photos, to original wee poems right through to the printing, cutting, sewing and binding. These will be heading to Scotland for the Pop Up Art Show.  

Many steps

 

I set out to make 5-6 pairs of silver-plated leaf earrings to take to Scotland for the Pop Up Art Show; but as you can see from the photo above I ended up making 8 pairs.

Four pairs are longer and slender  - ranging from about 4-6cm.

Four pairs are smaller and some are wider - ranging from about 2.5-3.5cm

The photo below highlights the difference size between the smallest and largest.

Following are some process photos that show some of the many steps that go into the making of a pair of leaf earrings - from cutting metal through to adding the jump-rings and earring hooks seen in the completed earrings.

Opening the leaf forms in three stages on three different tools.

The other thing about making leaf earrings is that the cutting and grinding is quite fiddlybut the outcome is worth it.

Moon, morning light and micro systems

 

The morning moon lingered in the western sky taking its time to set. 

I saw it in many settings such as through the mesh fence and tree seen above; but also in cloud, in dark sky as you can see below.

The sun had not yet risen in the east and the stars made their presence felt; but light began to seep into the sky until it glowed orange.

The recent rain has created the opportunity for fungi to flourish and to create tiny eco-systems such as those below.

We were fortunate this morning to have the sunlight slanting in through the eastern window to briefly highlight Fiona's tiny white flower arrangement.

I am grateful for the many moments and fragments of beauty.

Don't give up on peace

 

Fiona and I spent time with the letterpress yesterday printing our peace weather grams to send out for International Day of Peace in September. Why so early I hear you ask? Well we needed to get them printed, dry and posted before we head off to Scotland.

I really like the opening  and following photo because they demonstrate the ephemeral nature of weather grams; but also seem to speak of the fragility of peace. On Ken's sculptural chair you can see worn weather grams from a few different years that have fluttered to the ground out of our magnolia tree.

This year I have chosen to print - "don't give up on peace". Given all the wars created by weak bully boys  it would be easy to just say we can't do anything - but we can - individually and collectively we need to push for peace through our individual efforts and by pushing our own politicians.

Following are a few images of the printing process and outcomes.

And a couple of Fiona and I at work in our micro but very functional printing space.

May we all continue to push for peace.

Stone bridges and a boat

 I have decided to try my hand at recording a few very old traditional stone bridges in my postcard sized watercolours. But as the title says I have included an unserviceable fishing boat to make up the four you can see close to being finished in the opening photo.

The flooding photo is a close up of the small stone bridge that was part of the original road that goes past Armadale village. These days the bridge it totally overgrown by gorse - very intense and dense yellow flowers.

Some progress photos follow.

I will finish these four in the next week.

Family, flowers and frolicking platypus

 

Over the weekend we went to the coast to catchup up with F's family from Brisbane. It was a beautiful blue sky day resulting in many refections on the ocean as you can see above; and contrast of the trees with the sky.

The flower images below are from a few walks. Given we are in the depths of winter there are few flowers but still  enough to cause one to pause.

On our Sunday walk F managed to photograph a platypus and cormorant feeding. The cormorant follows to platypus to gather what the platypus has stirred up - good team work!!

I managed to take a reasonable photo of the platypus!!!