Friday, January 31, 2020

Decluttering and garage sale

©2020 Barry Smith - Interesting shapes and sizes - very old and worn copper soldering irons
The studio decluttering process that started in December is now reaching its end point. The image above shows the stash of old soldering iron that have been de-handled and will be installed in/0n a log soon.

The photo below shows that I have reduced my number of hammers down to those I actually use.

©2020 Barry Smith - Quite the range of hammers
Then so much of the stuff I used in Artisan Lamps and other art and jobs on the block will now be recycled through a garage sale tomorrow.

©2020 Barry Smith - Sorting the stuff into categories 
©2020 Barry Smith - Lined up and priced at the shed
©2020 Barry Smith - Ready for the sale tomorrow
It has been a big process but also liberating.

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Blossoms on the block


©2020 Barry Smith - Delicate ribbons of colour
My walk this morning was on the block - checking out the growth after our recent rain; and of course checking out the weeds. Sharing a couple of Graham's orchids first - looking healthy with lots of droplets.

©2020 Barry Smith - Strong
©2020 Barry Smith - Holding a delicate droplet 
©2020 Barry Smith - Wild
©2020 Barry Smith - Rootlets with droplets
And more plants with droplets.

©2020 Barry Smith - Pink frangipani
©2020 Barry Smith - In the creases of the argave
The pumpkin vines have gone crazy and are invading the 'sculptures' on the gravel outside the shed studio.

©2020 Barry Smith - Rusty typewriter with it's own pumpkin flower
©2020 Barry Smith - Looks like this vine hit a dead end and turned around!!!!
So grand to see the plants so revived and active.

Sunday, January 26, 2020

A wee linocut

©2020 Barry Smith - First cut of the coffee horse float.
I managed to do the first cut of a small postcard size lino cut.  It is of a Coast Coffee stop between Armadale and Bettyhill in the Scottish Highlands.

A few of the process photos.

©2020 Barry Smith - Photo of Fiona and Graham at the coffee stop
©2020 Barry Smith - Image reduced to postcard size and converted to black and white
©2020 Barry Smith - Transferring the image
©2020 Barry Smith - Transfer working well
A few of the proofs using different papers and printing techniques.

©2020 Barry Smith - Proofs of the inked up lino cut
The lino cut has potential - detail to be reworked.

Friday, January 24, 2020

A couple more 'art' installations on the block


©2020 Barry Smith - Cubes on the terraces - they will grey off over time - photo doesn't do the installation justice
Fiona and I continue on our merry way cleaning the block and sorting our stockpiles. I committed to chainsawing the remaining logs so they could be used as cube installations and large bench seats. Fiona really helped by setting up the logs for sawing and measuring and marking up the logs to get the most out of them. And a good stash resulted as you can see from below.

©2020 Barry Smith - That is what a rough cut stack of timber looks like - and yes it rained lightly as I did the chainsawing
©2020 Barry Smith - All the timber with all the edges ground and timber wax applied to the end grain
©2020 Barry Smith - Looking at the stacks from above
This morning we moved all but three of the cubes down onto the sculpture terraces to create another cube installation as you can see from the photo at the start of the post. All that is left are the two benches and three 200mm cubes.

©2020 Barry Smith - Three lovely cubes and two heavy duty bench sets
We also took seven rusted bbq burners and installed them under one of the camellias - they look a bit like a grouping of people - silent sentinels.

©2020 Barry Smith - A gathering of the rusty burner people
A good outcome in terms of decluttering and adding to the block.

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

A little friend and other fragments

©2020 Barry Smith - Water dragon that kept me company
The water dragon above and below stayed by me feet for about 30minutes as I sat on a shaded bench seat in town waiting for Fiona to finish a meeting this morning.

©2020 Barry Smith - Water dragon that kept me company
What about this odd reflection in the glass of the mountains in the east superimposed over the range in the west - seen from only one angle in the house before heading out for my walk.

©2020 Barry Smith - Reflection of the valley mountains on the window creating an overlay on the view of the mountains in the west
©2020 Barry Smith - Valley view this morning
The blossoms below were captured when we went down the back to do some pruning yesterday.

©2020 Barry Smith - Love how the sun caught and highlighted these spent banksia blossoms.

©2020 Barry Smith - Beautiful detail
©2020 Barry Smith - A different type of banksia forming
©2020 Barry Smith - Intricate patterns and small florets
And those below were bits of brightness from my walk this morning.

©2020 Barry Smith - Love the spider
©2020 Barry Smith
©2020 Barry Smith
©2020 Barry Smith
©2020 Barry Smith - Shades of blue and purple


Sunday, January 19, 2020

Mainly about gravel - but also antler and horn

©2020 Barry Smith  - About 11m X 2m to be gravelled - good start
This year Fiona and I decided that finally we would tackle the bare area under the house. It has always been a bit of an eye saw. So we decided to have slats install;and gravel the area in front of them. On Thursday we finished painting the slat so then it was over to me to gravel.

I ordered 3 cubic meters of drainage gravel - good for holding the soil in place and surprising weeds. Over the weekend I did three sessions of shovelling, hauling and spreading grave. It has to be done by hauling buckets of gravel. I used about one cubic meter - about 150-170 buckets.  Looking good so far - hope to be finished by next weekend.

©2020 Barry Smith - First session was done in the rain - at least it was cool
©2020 Barry Smith - Nibbling away at the pile
©2020 Barry Smith - Progress
I did set aside a couple of hours to finish the antler earrings and pendants; and also finished off a couple of black buffalo horn pendants.

©2020 Barry Smith - Even with the glass resin the porous nature of the centre of the antler shows
©2020 Barry Smith - Cross section pendant with a black buffalo horn toggle - Scotland Highlands meets Northern Territory Australia 
©2020 Barry Smith - Cross section earrings
©2020 Barry Smith - Black buffalo horn pendants - you can see the grain of the horn
Quite a few pendants on the shelf in the display case.

©2020 Barry Smith - Many of the pendants use natural materials


Friday, January 17, 2020

Fragments of time and antler

The work on the block in January continues; and time for art is snatched here and there. Today I got a couple of hours to progress the antler jewellery I have been working on. I managed to finish a couple of pair of organic twig like antler earrings. after spending time grinding and polishing the pieces.

©2020 Barry Smith - Scottish deer antler fragments with brass rivets
©2020 Barry Smith - Very twig like antler earring drops - about 40mm long
©2020 Barry Smith - Back and front views
A shelf in one of my display cabinets has an interesting range of earrings I think.

©2020 Barry Smith - A shelf of earrings made from recycled metal and natural materials such as bone, horn and antler
I am experimenting with the earrings and pendants that are made from the antler cross sections. The inner part of the antler is made up of a brown lattice of bonelike substance. I wanted to see if it was possible to fill the lattice with glass resin and in the case of one pendant and the pair of earrings also colour the lattice with permanent marker ink.

©2020 Barry Smith - Porous lattice like inner section of the antler 
©2020 Barry Smith - Sections with glass resin soaking into the porous lattice
©2020 Barry Smith- Glass resin filling the lattice
The glass resin takes about 24 hours to fully cure so I might get to finish the pendants and earrings over the weekend