"Blessing" remembered

Last year it was such a wrestle with the camera and the timing to get a full day sequence of the finished sculpture at Lightning Ridge - but finally getting to put the pictures together has taken me right back there - to the clear light and the peace. So here is the day in the life of a rock - albeit one that I messed with a bit.

And if the embedded version doesn't work for you you can go to Youtube to watch it....

and a big thank you to Roger for completing the recording process when I had to return to Melbourne.

A Week Already?

The final Friday at Lightning Ridge was spent in virtual combat with the camera. Sculpture demands more than having facility with the tools and materials.. there's the recording.... well I lacked the intimate knowledge of the time lapse camera but I have learned a lot now! So here is my three weeks work compressed into less than six minutes. If the clip doesn't run in your browser you can open it in You Tube

 And if you think there was a lot of hand sanding - well you are right! At some point in the future I'll get the full day images together - the sunrise was amazing coming up between the stones.

Well it was farewell to Lightning Ridge and working in a T shirt in the winter and a quick visit to Canberra on the way home.

The Wide Brown Land Sculpture - being explored

Hawthorn bonsai at the National Arboretum

The Cedar Forest - the National Arboretum at sunset

Then home and back to work in the studio. With some welcome greetings from my wonderful family.

Charlie was happy to have me home too

Welcome home

Does it look any different?

After three weeks of prancing about in a black plastic bag wielding recalcitrant power tools and sanding mightily what have I got to show for it? The rocks are subtly different - smooth faces form the gestures supported on the untouched native rock. Not your standard sculpture where the forms are telling the story.

The work will be named and launched on Friday.

Looking Around

The full moon was spectacular but now the

Lady the wallaby is a bit camera shy.

early night sky is dark enough to see more stars than city people dream about. Afternoon and evening the local art critic drops in to check on progress.

The address for The Black Queen is correct: red car door E, Simms Hill Track. I don't know where they find all the car doors  - maybe I'll find out next trip.

The Leopard wood trees are beautiful.

Apparently they grow on the higher ground away from frosts. How fantastic to be working here, and leaving behind a stone gift to add to the place.

Creating Rubble

The pile of stonechips grows and I think a sculpture is taking shape. We'll see what it looks like in the morning light.

As I was working today l looked up and saw a wallaby browsing - quite unconcerned in spite of the noise of the tools and the generator.

The start of the second week.

Oh Rock!

The rock by the light of the setting moon is white in contrast to the sleeping landscape. It isn't like the rocks in Ryoanji garden that rely on their untouched rock-ness  to make their statement. This rock has been wrested from its natural lie in the ground, stood upright, broken a couple of times and then I get to work on it.

As the worked faces emerge they stand in contrast and in compliment to the marks of the seasons that show where the rock was exposed.

I'm getting line and surface and interface. And the gesture of those things is starting to suggest a name.

The moon has set now and the darkness before dawn prevails. I dare not go for a walk until daylight in this place dotted with mine shafts. In fact driving has its risks too - coming back from the bore baths last night I saw a big grey kangaroo by the road. A collision would not be good for either of us!

The first colour of day is showing - time to watch.

Residency Progress and Hot Pool

A few days of sorting out a work pattern with a generator and a garden hose and my water feed tools are looking good. The pile of chips is growing courtesy of the slice and dice with the tile cutting saw and mallet.

All this cutting, chipping and grinding is slow to shape the work. The muscles ache a bit but the hot water in the artesian bore baths is really soothing.

On solstice morning the sun makes a line between the rocks.

Work in progress  23 June

Residency-the start

Working so far from the studio is scary and fun! So first we decided to move the big rock to a better place and then we wanted to move a companion rock. Leon turned up with a huge yellow machine - steering on front and back wheels and legs that went down to support an extending bucket - and the skill in driving it was amazing! So there was the project - a complete redesign and food for thought.

So I began- setup the tools, establish the water and power supply and figure out how to make things safe when the performances are on.

Of course the first incident was that a piece feel off - oh dear! well what do you expect after dropping it into position. Such is life with sandstone.

Morning from the Black Queen

The start

Now to work! Establish the rhythm and off we go.

Lightning Ridge Residency at the Black Queen

walls of bottles beautifully executed.

Gale and Roger Collins run the Black Queen Outback theatre. It is a performance about the complex of spaces, the lady who built it, why they bought it and culminates in the museum where we witness the story of light.

The museum at dusk before the lamps are lit

That museum is a magic space that compliments the performance. And the lamps themselves do indeed "light up the night"

I'm looking forward to working here on the sandstone of the Ridge.

Morning on the Ridge

Set up at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show

 The well dressed sculptor will wear - plastic - garbage bags to be precise and the latest in rubber boots - but the wet grinder is pretty good. And the shaping came along quite nicely. However there is still quite a bit of equipment and material lacking... a big drill for stainless rods - a piece of granite - lots of little things that Andrew Bryant "just happened" to have lying around - and a generous nature to go with.

Andrew attacking the red gum/iron bark that used to be a railway sleeper

Having set it up there was a lot of finishing  - so back to the studio and sand, sand, sand - a bit of chisel, sand, sand again, water spray.... oh yes a meal or two and say hello.... will it ever be right?

And then to the various hard wares for sealer and oil for the wood... getting exciting - which day are we setting up? St Patrick's Day - the better the day, the better the deed!

And there we were at the show - most of the work was in - people had various shifts so we weren't all there at once. And Mark coped magnificently with getting the paperwork done and everyone in a good spot - more than 100 good spots in an exhibition - only Mark could do it!

And then fussing with the level - and is it quite right here? Can it tell the story of that moment in the Black Queen when Gale's lamp made me so present and aware - of the story of light as we humans love it.

A Moment in the Story of Light - Lightning Ridge sandstone, red gum, stainless steel, granite

Down with Dust

lining up the core drill

the beast

I've stopped using the dry grinder after seeing Andrew use the core drill. It worked a charm and there's no dust .... I'm about to invest in more tools with a water feed - in the mean time - hand carving is working ok.....

look - no dust!

The hole - just where it's meant to be

Lightning Ridge and sandstone

Lightning Ridge is part of New South Wales - or it's a world apart depending on how you look at things. I was lucky enough to see Gale Collins's three act performance at the Black Queen. The story, the place, the lamps.. it all fires the imagination and the opals are a beautiful mystery. The "overburden" is sandstone. There's a piece, newly quarried, sitting in the garden.

There's a smaller piece in the studio... so I've put out that I want tips on carving sandstone - both at home and out there, off the grid, in Lightning Ridge. Kevin Free came to the rescue.... and reassured me that my slice and dice method for getting rid of larger bits was the way to go... he gave me the name of some cool tools and told me to keep the stone damp.....

Just as well it was raining when I started since my respirator only helps me - and the room filtration system only works inside the studio.

The form is emerging from the stone - the grain is smooth and even - there's no shattering and the colours are subtle. Lovely stuff!

So for the next little while the water spray will be my friend - along with the powered respirator and together we'll release what's in there.

The leopard wood is pretty cool too - there's a few right where the stone is standing - does it grow any where else? I don't know.

Leopard wood at the Black Queen