Bucket of buffalo bits before breakfast

Some days just start out a bit unusual. Fiona and I headed out for our walk this morning only to find a poor dead Wallaby (it would have stood about 600mm high when standing) on the roadside at the top of our property. It had been hit and killed bay a car during the night and someone 'kindly' dragged it off the road and deposited it on our front lawn (grass and weeds really). This was the first Wallaby we had seen in our area so it was pretty sad for it and us.

Given it was a cold morning we decided to quadruple bag the body and bin it in preparation for rubbish collection early in the week.

Further into our walk we met up with Joe who had a bucket of Buffalo horns he had collected in the Northern Territory some 30 years ago. He thought I might be able to do something artistic with them - and if not then dispose of them. Not everyday you carry home a bucket of Buffalo horns before breakfast. Most likely I will cut them up and use some sections of polished horn.

Barry Smith © Buffalo horns

Barry Smith © Bucket of Buffalo horns!!!!

Yesterday was very windy and cold here so Fiona and I spent the morning reorganising the shed and moving the printing presses across as part of the move to turn it into a teaching and print studio. Today has been delightful - cold but no wind and beautiful sunshine. So after the unusual start to the day I managed to do more work on Flow - one of the new pieces I'm working on for Clovelly.

Barry Smith © Flow slowly developing.

As you can see Flow is taking shape - and not dissimiliar to the sketch at the bottom of the previous post on it . And the wood looks beautiful with a bit of oil.

Opening of Marking Moments - Up-Front Club

Well the good news is that the opening of Fiona's and my Marking Moments mini exhibition at the Up-Front Club was a quiet social affair shared with a bunch of fellow artists; and of course other willing or unwilling patrons in the Club including a book club and a games group.

The exhibition opening (really short few words by Edith-Ann (the volunteer Up-Front Club art coordinator), Fiona and myself) took place amidst tables as people ate and quaffed wine - a good way to launch an exhibition.

I thought I would try to post two short videos I took with the iPhone to give a better idea of the light, the clutter and chatter of the evening - but after almost 2 hours of trying different things, Fiona and I had to admit defeat and I have now posted some of the individuals photos of pieces and the crowd. Sorry about the poor quality of the photos - it was the light not the wine!!!

Barry Smith © Personal shrine - Connected

Barry Smith © Personal shrine - Shrine to the Moon

Barry Smith © Personal shrine - Leaf

Barry Smith © Personal shrine - Trilogy

On the walls you get glimpses of Fiona's rusted, burnt, calligraphic pieces on the wall - black wall and black frames - makes them look like mysterious warm rusted or aged fragments.

Some of the crowd & F's pieces in background

Fiona and Noela (middle left) in deep conversation

As mentioned in my opening words, the shrines represents one line of my work that focusses on quietness, places and reflection; but incorporate assemblage and beaten techniques (bowls and leaves) and the use of all recycled materials.

New work in progress

I thought that Fiona and I would get back into the Up-Front Club today to take a few photos of the individual pieces hanging and priced; and I could post on them tonight. We we did get back in but only briefly and not for photographing. Today sadly enough was mainly about writing a community report based on the field work we did in the NT some weeks ago.

However I had had enough report writing by mid afternoon and said to Fiona that I wanted to start on one of my larger sculptural posts for display in July-August at an estate called Clovelly. I asked Fiona if she could assist as I was chainsawing the corner off a very hard and tallish piece of Rose Gum timber and I wanted her to hold the cutoff piece so it didn't splinter the point. So out we went at 4.15pm - weather looked very overcast and cold but no sign of rain.

Barry Smith © Rose Gum - sawdust and raindrops

Anyway the photo above is a heap of the sawdust that was generated in the cutting; and you can see that 20mins into the work it poured rain and has splattered the sawdust - but good rich red timber colour. From the photos below you can see I have cut the face and started to sand the post back.

Barry Smith © Rough cut post

Barry Smith © Hmm! A bit smoother

The photo below gives a rough idea of the plan for the post sculpture.

The piece will stand 1.2m high and is 300mm square. It will take two people to lift. It will be called Flow as it will have a reservoir and a flowing line routed into the top and flowing down the face that will channel any water collected down the routed flow line. It will be embellished with bolts and rusted iron. I hope to have it finished by the end of next week.

About the Up-Front Club exhibition - well I guess those photos will pop up in another post.

Hanging Marking Moments

This afternoon Fiona and I worked with Edith-Ann (art coordinator of Up-Front Club) to hang our mini exhibition in the Up-Front Club (our local cooperative arty cafe-coffee shop). We have titled the exhibition Marking Moments to reflect: Fiona's works about journeys and pausing at points along the journey; and my work about creating quiet places where people can pause, reflect and revive for the life journey ahead.

I will post on it more fully tomorrow when I have the opportunity to take some clear photos of the pieces in situ in the middle of the day.

Barry Smith © Personal Shrines - Marking Moments exhibition

 However, I did take a series of 6 photos on the iPhone (in poor light) and used the Autostitch app to join them up  - so I thought I'd share that stitched photo. It shows the 8 hanging  personal shrines in place and the one wood free-standing one on a plinth to the right. The shrines look pretty good against the burgundy background.

Metal letters

The garage sale went well yesterday - though people started turning up in the dark - 45 minutes before the advertised start time. But the good news is that we worked at selling for 6 hours and managed to move almost everything - so we now have a clear shed and in the next couple of weeks it will be turned into a print studio and teaching venue.

So today we rewarded ourselves with time in the studio. I used it to finish my ALAW 2011 black and white letters; and also turned the letters into a 3d presentation. I will post on the work on the ALAW 2011 blog but thought I'd share a few of the images here as well given the letters have been created from rusted metal straps; recycled tin (painted white); recycled bits from anodised canisters; recycled wire coat-hangers; and pop-rivets - a bit 'Rustnsfuffish' really.

Barry Smith © ALAW - Q 

Barry Smith © ALAW - black and white with a touch of colour

Barry Smith © ALAW - detail - B&W alphabet

Working out how to get the sequence right on the coat-hanger wire rods was a bit of a challenge. Fiona and I talked through and drew five options before settling on the one I used - always good to have another supporting artist on hand.

Barry Smith © ALAW - 3D B&W alphabet

The piece still needs a bit of finessing.

Friday, furniture, friends and sunsets

As with most days in our household today was full.  In the main we were preparing for a garage sale of our friend Jeff's stuff. He is in Aceh doing good stuff and at Christmas he had a big sort of his possessions; and we had committed to selling off what was surplus when we had time and the weather was fine. So the garage sale is set for tomorrow morning and we have to be up at about 5am to prepare for people who will turn up at 6am.

We had pretty well finished organising things by 4pm this afternoon when Noela turned up to check things out  - followed a little later by Ken. We had planned to pause at 4pm and do a bit of Friday creative stuff in the studio but ended up yarning to N & K, having a tea-copfee; and when 5.30pm arrived had some bubbles etc. So actual creativity in the studio went out the window - but as Noela said the time with friends and fellow artists is creative - well someone has to do the hard yards.

While we drank bubbles an amazing colour show was taking place outside. From the series of photos below you can see the sun setting in the west  being reflected off the clouds and creating progressively stronger colours over the valley and mountains to the south-east below our place.

Barry Smith © Reflected sunset over the mountains take 1

Barry Smith © Reflected sunset over the mountains take 2

Barry Smith © Reflected sunset over the mountains take 3

Barry Smith © Reflected sunset over the mountains take 4

Barry Smith © Reflected sunset over the mountains take 5

So the creative activity on this Friday was all done by nature - lucky us.

Bowls for Shrine to the Moon

Recently I posted on my the final of a series of personal shrines I am getting ready for the mini exhibition Fiona and I are having in the Up-Front Club.

Fiona had suggested that I complement the shrine with an aluminium bowl and leaf - a silver look but slightly muted. So I asked people what they thought. The reaction was mixed but a few people came down on the side of brass - but Suzi suggested maybe a bowl that had more than one metal - maybe one made from aluminium, brass and copper. So I have taken up the challenge a produced a few possibilities.

Barry Smith © Bowl cluster

Barry Smith © Zinc plated brass, brass and copper rivet

Barry Smith © Aluminium, brass, copper and aluminium rivet

Barry Smith © Aged foldformed zinc plated brass 

The photo above is all three together for comparison; and the individual bowls - all about palm size. And the photos below show the bowls, with an aluminium leaf, on the shrine.

Barry Smith© Moon shrine with foldformed bowl

Barry Smith © Moon shrine with aluminium, brass and copper bowl

Barry Smith © Moon shrine with zinc-brass and brass bowl

So what do you think of the various options?

House full of rainbows

Our house has a lot of louvred windows and the louvres have beveled edges - just the thing for creating rainbows.  We often have rainbows reflecting in different parts of the house - usually in the early morning and later part of the afternoon - when it is a good sunny day of course.

That is all a longwinded preamble to the fact that I wanted to say the house was full of rainbows last week; and they appeared in the oddest places so I thought I might share the photos below - I think some will make you smile. None of the photos have been altered or enhanced.

Barry Smith © Sink with rainbow

Barry Smith © Water-kettle with rainbow

Barry Smith © Potato in bowl with rainbow

Barry Smith © KM's art piece with rainbows

Barry Smith © Coffee plunger with rainbow

Barry Smith © Rainbow in the printer

Barry Smith © Soft rainbows on the wall

Quite a happy accident to have a house that often offers internal rainbows - they make us smile.

Light Jewels - Steampunk light catcher

Every now and then bits of my collection of found and given objects suggest a new piece to me. Recently Graham gave me a box of bits he had bought for $3 at a garage sale - it all looked pretty uninspiring until it was sorted. Two pieces caught my eye: a very dirty and rusted piece of light gauge rail track; and a very rusted and worn jewellers holding device (called a spare pair of hands?). On seeing these bits I knew they had to come together in piece as part of my Light Catcher Series.

Barry Smith © Light Jewels

So there you have it in the photo above - a new light catcher called Light Jewels - referencing the jewellers holding 'thingy'; and the fact that it creates rainbows of light. The bits took quite a bit of polishing to give them new life.

Barry Smith © Light Jewels - with a touch of Steampunk

As you can see from the photos above the piece has a some recycled switches, brass nuts etc - gives the piece a bit of an industrial or steampunkish look.

Barry Smith © Crystal with mountains

The crystal to catch the light is bound to the pincers of the jewellers thing by stirling silver wire with an ornate end - thought a photo with the mountains in the background was in order.

Barry Smith © Rainbows on the floor

Barry Smith © A scatter of rainbows

And it has lived up to its name - the photos above are all refracted light creating light jewels on the walls of the house from sunshine streaming in through the glass doors.

Barry Smith © A light jewel on the wall

The circular rainbow was reflected on a wall about 6 meters from where Light Jewels was sitting on the floor in the sunlight. The photo is untouched.

Autumn Leaf Litter

As indicated in my post to celebrate my 300th post I committed to drawing a recipient of the Autumn Leaf Litter below on Friday (today Australian time).

Barry Smith© Leaf Litter

In all there were 16 people in the draw. Names were written on scraps of paper, folded, and put into a Tibetan Singing Bowl.  Because quite a few people were in, I decided to offer a couple of single leaves for the second and third persons drawn from the bowl. Fiona drew out out the names.

Barry Smith © Anodised leaf - copper

Barry Smith © Anodised leaf - green

As you can see the recipient of Leaf Litter is Luthien. A leaf each will also go to Valerianna and Jennifer. If the winners could send me mailing addresses through my Contact at the top of the blog - the leaves will flutter your way next week.

Thanks to all who were willing to take part in the giveaway and for continuing to take an interest in what I do and for providing affirming and supportive comments.

Go well and create well; and enjoy the colours of winter in the southern hemisphere and the colours of spring in the north.