10/1/24

Made of

Made of

Weevils and lice and plagues of mice
Tempests and gales and cold sea-snails
Needles and pins and monkey skins
Thickets and thorns and tall proud horns
Blossom and bees and gentle trees
Frankincense and fire

Beaks and hooks and buried books
Beasts from tapestries
Sighs and scars and scattered stars
Warrens and snares and lies
Harps and hares and magic squares
A hundred shining eyes

Owls and crows and old hedgerows
Weeds and wells and distant bells
Flies and frogs and hollow logs
A nest of wool and wire

Greening sod and growing wood
Wine and silk and foxes’ milk
Puddles and roots and muddy boots
Foam and fish and ice

05/19/24

Wigs In Space

A few weeks ago I was playing with AI image generation, and ended up writing a parody sci-fi serial around some of the pictures. I made some more images to fit specific scenes, which was rather more difficult, and posted the result as Wigs In Space on Tumblr — perhaps not the best place for it, but I already had an account and the posting format was suitable. I had fun making this thing, but have had enough of AI for now. I enjoyed it more as a toy than a tool, as it seems to have no understanding of 3D space or individual objects.

Anyway, here’s Wigs In Space episode 1, with links to the other episodes.

05/13/24

Widdershins

This fellow was originally playing a flute, and as he neared completion I put him away in a box, largely I think because I could see the process of producing an edition being fraught with difficulty. When I took him out recently to work on him again, I realised that not only would he be easier to cast if he was playing (hare) bells, he would look better too. I now need to alter his arms and hands, but it will be worth it. I’ve also been fiddling with an arrangement of cravat and shirt ruffles, which might end up getting moulded separately and stuck on in the wax stage.

04/3/24

Jack #5/8

Jack, bronze hare man sculpture

I should either shut this site down or use it, shouldn’t I? This is the 5th Jack in an edition of 8. He has to be cast in two pieces and welded at the knees, then I grind the welds off and carve texture back into the metal using a die grinder and a dental tool. I’ve given him a test patina to make sure I’m happy with the restored texture. He’s now ready for sandblasting and a proper patina.

06/26/22

Gothic to Sublime at Cascade Gallery

Cascade Gallery in Maldon has a new exhibition with the theme of Gothic to Sublime,  in parallel with the Goldfields Gothic – Festival of Dark Ideas (1-3 July 2022 in Maldon). The exhibition is open until 31 July, and I have a few pieces in it, in the company of works by Philomena Carroll, Hilary Finch, Terry Taylor, Sharon West, Jill Kempson, Liz Sullivan, Stephen Tester, John O’Loughlin, Julie Andrews, Lydia Poljak, Joel Sorensen, Zoe Amor and Jeff Gardner.

Cascade is located in a historic church at 1A Fountain Street, Maldon, Victoria.  Opening hours are Thurs – Sun from 10 am  to 5 pm. Ph. 0408 844 152

During the festival the gallery is also holding “Drawing the Gothic” workshops for adults and under 16s, which can be booked through the Goldfields Gothic program.

One of my sculptures in the exhibition, The Silent One & The Noisy One:

 

06/9/21

Jack

Meet Jack, the new hare around here. He’ll be going to the foundry soon. ‘Here’ is, by the way, Australia. We moved back a few months before Covid happened, so had time to settle in before battening down the hatches.

03/8/19

New Work

Two new bronze pieces, “Lovers’ Lane” and “Bluebird”. When I first made the model for Lovers’ Lane it wasn’t holding anything, just gesturing in the air — then eventually the second mask came along. Bluebird’s colour is a pigmented patina. I want to get some better photos, but these will do for now.