A little bit of art

 

We are settling into life in the cottage and have started to carry out maintenance tasks. We are now trying to find bits of time for art. I got a couple of hours this morning and started on a couple of wee watercolours. 

The opening photo shows where I got to - a reasonable start. Some process photos follow.

The kitchen table became the studio!!! It takes a bit of time unpacking and packing the art box but it is worth the effort.

First fragments from the cove

 

We have been at the cottage for just under a week but have managed to walk to the cove most days and down on to the stone beach twice.

There are still enough bits of rust and stones to bring a smile. How about the delicate tracings of the heart stone in the opening photo - too large to bring home - it will reside on the stone beach for more folk to find and enjoy maybe.

More photos of stones follow.

A few images of the rust and other abandoned bits

Even though the current trip is a short maintenance one I'm sure we will visit the cove and it's treasure on a few more occasions.

Leaves - an artists' book

 

I have completed a  5 'page' unbound  book in leaf form - including grinding and polishing. I blogged on the process of this book a couple of weeks ago - but it is now ready for exhibiting if my application is accepted.

The content of this book is my original fragmentary poem Leaves below:

leaf whispers

ruby

emerald

emerging

unfurling

 

autumnal flourish

copper

golden

falling

flying

 

quiet litterfall

bronze

russet

sheltering

renewing

A few more photos of the finished work follow.

I like the form of this book and the earlier one (Mighty River Trees) that I did for the Narratives exhibition at the Little Red Cottage Gallery Maleny.

Small Scottish watercolours

 

This very short blog post is the first from Scotland - so good that it shows a few images of a couple of watercolours of local buildings - the old shop in Melvin and local aged stone building. Opening with the old store watercolour. Stone building watercolour follows.

Couple of process photos.

And a couple more of the finished works.

Farewell fragments from the iPhone

 

Fiona ands I will be on our first flight heading towards the cottage in Scotland when this blog post publishes - at least that is the plan.

I have taken random photos from the iPhone simply as a way of saying we are making the transition from our Maleny home to our Armadale home - so my next iPhoneography on Wednesday will be from the cottage - hopefully!!! The opening photo is a carpet of petals - just gorgeous - at least I think so!!!

One of the features from quite a few of the images is that it was/is wet. Another feature is the beauty of petal and leaf fall!!

All packed for Narratives

 

The opening photo and photo below show that I have completed my two artists' books for the Narratives - constellation of stories 2026 exhibition at the Little Red Cottage Gallery Maleny - May 2026. 

When I say completed - that includes the paper work and some art journals that could be included in the Narratives Pop Up Shop - see journal photo below.

Though earlier blog posts have shown the two books ( Mighty River Trees and Leaf Cycle) in progress, the photos below show the finished works: first Mighty River Trees and then Leaf Cycle

The shape of the 'pages' for Mighty River Trees was inspired by the shape of some fallen leaves similar to that below.

Fiona will be exhibiting a book in Narratives - of course Fiona's book is very different to mine!!!

I hope that folk can get along and support this local artists' book exhibition.  

Significant progress on thew pathway

 

I'm pleased that I found a few days of dry weather to progress my work on the art pathway.

As you can see from the photo above and photos below I have not only glued all pieces in place; but also filled gaps around sculptural element and some cracks between the pathway pavers and the artworks; and I cleaned all the panel. Cleaning involved hand sanding all the metal elements. Turned out to be quite a physical job on hands and knees - but with the outcome..

I applied some black acrylic paint to see how the cement surface would take up the paint. As you can see from some of the photos black is way too dark - but I also want to see how it ages over the next couple of months. 

It may turn out that I will need to do the touching up with a much lighter grey paint. So when I get back from Scotland  I will finish filling in gaps and cracks and do the painting touch up - the job will then be finished.