Studio tid bits

Process shot of  a new slab form. Inspired by an award winning Belgian train station. 21 slabs in total. This will be the third power pole sculpture. It's also the most modified or least based on an actual power pole, and so far has been the most work owing to the sheer number of slabs and therefore large amount of joining which it has required. On the up side its interior width is 80mm so it is wide enough to get my hand inside and work the joints properly which is a huge improvement. The first two works have featured fairly regular cross patterns whereas this one will have more randomness and increased negative space (hopefully).

 Yay for camera phone owning again, and the subsequent low quality night photos it captures. Two unfired, underglazed slab forms.

 Various stages of slab!

Inspiration for third sculpture, taken from the book "Atmosphere", an award winning design for a Belgian train station. Such rad line work in this image.

Final stage of this drawing. Sitting in its frame, getting ready for the Byron Arts Classic 2015, entries due on Monday!

Aquarian happenings

Sketches, sculptures and a recycled frame!

A new sketch on an old duplo box. A still life from the kitchen, bit of a nod to Gwyn Hansen Piggot's still lives. A bit brighter than many which have gone before it, thanks NT for showing me the tropical inspired colours that pulse with life. Simple things, appreciated.

Patching up the shadow box, to keep the moisture out. Hopefully his will be the first of many frames, to really do justice the huge pile of drawings I have stashed away. I have been thinking about sanding back through some layers of paint. Getting inspired by layers of paint on old boats at the Ballina slipway. Something which has always grabbed me, sanded back layers of colour, organic shapes and natural wear.

The image for the frame. This drawing has been ongoing over the past 6 plus months, but is finally finished, just needs to be flattened and framed now. 

As yet untitled, this work is roughly 85x55cm. It is based on a sketch of Darwin waterfront as seen from the jetty. The main part of the ground was a foam core box I rescued from Bachelor College. It features some paint pens which I started experimenting with while teaching there, all the dark blue line work, the red in the rock wall and the yellow windows are paint pen. There is some blue acrylic underpainting and the rest below the skyline is pastel and collage. In the sky, the top bit, the blue is pastel and the pink is spot marking aerosol sourced from highway construction. The sky is made up of food boxes, chocolate and muesli boxes sewn together.

The work captures a nice memory of the Darwin waterfront, a pretty vibrant place. Yet it also captures the new urban construction that is defining the cbd, and I tried to offset these modular building shapes with organic rocks and water, symbolising the meeting of ancient and modern worlds in this city. And also the clash of mining and resource industries clashing with traditional custodianship of the land. This was an ever present theme in Darwin and subsequently in my drawings made about the area.

This is a drawing/painting that currently lives in the frame. I did it shortly after making the frame, and watching a documentary on Basquait. It was a bit of an exorcism. It's a homage to Basquait, and to Tony abbots silly coal quote, and to the general state of the world, especially Australia with our coal mining obsessions. I'm going to sand over this to house the above drawing.

Sandon river. Experiment with a sharpie.

Sandon river. Beach shacks, tinnies and the summer sea breeze.

New power line sculpture starting to take shape. Recycled clay. Approximately 50cm high.