Update

Not much to update you on!. This year has been extremely hectic so I have not had much time to blog, in fact I have little time to do  anything other than meet deadlines. Up early and  to bed early and if to bed by 0100 hrs and I have been doing well.  This has taken me away from making which is where my passion lies, this is fine as it is all part of being self employed but I have missed the enjoyment of creating.

In the main the projects I have been working on are coming to a close so I can concentrate on some sculptural pieces I had been meaning to start some four months gone as well as finish pieces sat on the shelf that have been neglected. So I am having a few days off and then will be disappearing into my workshop to lose myself in my sculptural work.

Slowly I am diverting away from what I have made before, not because I do not enjoy turning in the round, just that I have never been able to sit still and there is so much fun stuff to do, not to do it would be a waste. This new work will not take the place of, but be an addition to my other work.

The next event is Yandles Spring Show where I will be demonstrating for Crown Tools, this I enjoy very much as it is a busy but fun time.

Inspiration from Nature

   Here are a few macro pictures that I snapped lately. In no way do I class myself as a photographer with my obsession of photography having started with the want to record anything I find of interest, whether I think it can be used at a later stage or not in my work.

There is no doubt for me however that the perfection in nature is all we need to study to find  inspiration for my work. I guess I could study it for the rest of my life and only scratch the surface.

To date I have amassed just over 3000 pictures of texture, shape and colour, these I dip into for ideas. Sadly I never have enough time to produce the volume of work I would like as various projects have meant in the short term I have been taken away from my love of creative, but these are coming to a close, so hopefully by late spring I will be back on track making and putting into the solid some of the many ideas I have been working on in my sketch book.

Web Site Update

Recently I have been upgrading my web site to go along with my new work, which as previously mentioned is a long way off, but hey I can't rush things or life gets too serious and all the fun is taken out of it.

Over my time involved in turning I have gone through many transitions.  I have met many many amazingly creative friends who have helped me develop,  as well as having been invited to many wonderful locations around the world to demonstrate and partake in creative projects. I am very privileged to have met and shared with these people and have come to realize that we are all on the same path, the same journey of exploration, soul searching for expression through our work.

More and more my mind has been moving away from turning as a way to express myself and more towards sculptural work. This is just another transition that will take some time for me to navigate but one that I do not see changing.

The more I delve into what others see as diverse work, work that is not produce purely on the lathe or in the round, the more resistance is projected by some as to what is expected of me, my work and that of other makers who choose a more diverse route.

This is of course a natural response as the unfamiliar for all of use is met with suspicion. A friend once told me that choosing a different path to the normal is one that is often walked alone. However this for me is not a negative, and I see that all the chatter going on around only constrains the senses from the beauty that is in front of us.

So I am looking forward to a new path of which I know will take some forceful determination from myself to cut certain ties and expectations that I and others have of me, all things of course are in a continual state of transition, either coming from or going to, this is after all for me what makes it so exciting.

Finished

Here is the finished piece.

An idea I have been trying out for a while and this is the first decent one I have made.  Composition and simplicity are current themes that interest me and this is the result of my thoughts.

Where is all the time going

Since my last entry I have been trying to catch up on various projects which are taking much more of my time than anticipated. This should not be a surprise I guess, as anything I do seems always to need twice the time I set aside of it. Partly due to the way I work as if I am not enjoying something and the bills are paid then I just stop, not conducive to being organised but then I find being organised often too structured and tiresome, life is too interesting to rush around on a treadmill.

The sculptures that I am making are only just being starting and will be some time, the added time thinking about them has however resolved some technical issues that I was unsure of. In the mean time I am delving into other ideas to give myself some release from being sat at the computer.

The more I have become involved in  turning the less turning I seem to do, other than teaching and demonstration, still it pays the bills, I enjoy it and it gets me out and about.

Things will settle down.

The picture here is a snippet, with a twist, of a group of pieces I have been developing.

End of another year

Well we are at the end of another year. The time seems to past far too quickly, possibly as this year has been the busiest to date.

So  a new year is on its way, and I feel a new direction is needed.

 A long time now I have been talking about moving in a more sculptural direction and 2d wall art as I feel it is the only viable way to move forward with my work and business.

New tools and materials have been accumulated over some time now and are ready to start work with. The designs I have been building up to for the last year or so are ready to start in the new year.

It is always a juggle when going through any transition as the bills still have to be paid, this at times means producing bread and butter items but this is now coming to a close with my last commission of bowls being taken to a happy customer today.

For this reason I have during 2013 been trying to cut back on demonstrations but have as many booked for next year as this, and bookings for 2014 already coming in.

Having said that I have cut back on evening demos as they are just not cost effective for me when I look at the amount of workshop time/profit lost compared to what can be produced and sold in the same time spent staying in the workshop making.

My change in direction is also in part down to my disillusionment with the way in which woodturning is viewed in galleries etc compared to when I introduce my creative work and other media.  My creative work is viewed with enthusiasm but turned wood seems to be harder to sell, with a few new mixed media galleries now being interested in stocking it at the prices I believe it is worth.

Wood turning while a wonderful enjoyable craft, is not where I any longer want to concentrate my time as a career, this does not mean that I am stopping turning just moving into the sculptural work as my main focus with the lathe moving back very much into a small part process.

It is important for me to keep pushing my boundaries and a target since starting out using the lathe is to produce primarily sculptural work. Often round work that is primarily made on the lathe is seen as the only way in which to produce work when using this machine. Over time I have seen its power as a material removal tool and a highly efficient machine for the production of  flowing base curves for sculpture.

By staying in the round I believe I am missing am exciting process.

I have been speaking about this for some time now, and it has been slowly coming mainly due to many of the designs I previously sketched not being of the right concept. It takes time to come up with a range of work that is new/unique and has longevity and while I feel I have found it, of course to date it is an unknown and may be a monumental flop, time of course will tell..

The sculptural pieces part finished shown on my blog some time ago  are now gathering dust. They have provided a good deal of research and development time to see what tools and materials I want to work with in the future, and since their conception the new designs have come through and taken my time, they will be finished at some stage but when I do not know.

The picture at the top of the page is another of a similar piece made some years ago and is not reflective of the new work I will be producing. I just thought it looks a bit more festive than some of my other pieces.

So have a great festive season. My blog will will be rarely updated for several months while I spend a lot of time working on new work and other projects.

Update

 The weekend and this week is very busy but I thought a small update would keep the blog moving.

Out for a walk as I do every day with my dogs and my camera and managed to get a few pictures, some have a bit of camera shake as they were taken at 35 x optical zoom without a tri-pod as I find it a bit to cumbersome to carry and walk the dogs at the same time.  (a mono pod is on Santa's list).

Often looking up into old tress I can find some interesting, shapes, colours and textures for use in sculptures perhaps.

Oak Apple 35 x zoom Canon SX30 iS

Also on Monday had the final of two AWGB teaching days with a few pictures here of the day.

Busy week

It has been a busy of late leaving me little time to update my blog.

Saturday and Sunday was spent teaching at Walford Mill, followed by teaching 6th form students with the AWGB on Monday and then a long drive to Test Valley turners for an evening demonstration. The rest of the week is taken up with commissions, writing, and my own work.

The picture at the top of the page is fro Walford Mill

Picture below from the AWGB day of which there is a second soon with four more students.

Latest rendering

At the moment I am turning a mass of noodle and other utility bowls for outlets together with getting ready for teaching Saturday, Sunday and Monday including an evening demo on Monday evening, so not a lot of time to work on the more creative pieces that are gathering dust in my workshop.

The simple bowl is a beautifully item to turn and one I find very relaxing. While technically simple in process the desired 'simple' line and form is all but 'simple' to achieve, this being the reason I enjoy producing them as it means I can get back to basics and really enjoy the flow of line and the connection of this to the out-breath,  one single movement/cut for the entire outside of the form.

So this fractal rendering is my play time this evening looking at incorporating more complexity from the previous that I have shown.

The overall basis and foundation is still that of a simple line/form, in this case a spiral. It is interesting to look at the two disciplines, ( simple bowl and complex computer render) separately, yet they are connected, the complexities of the simple bowl with my attempts to achieve the perfect form and cut, with that of the subtlety behind such a complex computer rendering as shown above.

At the basis of each is a purity of line, a foundation on which to build, and if either forms, be they complex or simple are lacking in this basic purity of line, then no matter how complex the subsequent layers are, the end result will be lacking in it visual impact.

Observing the shapes within the computer generated fractal pictures I produce and the observing of nature is a rich source of inspiration to me even when producing a simple noodle bowl, as beauty in nature all comes back to a direct relationship with mathematical equation, go google 'Fibonacci in nature' and observe for yourself how beautiful the sequence really is and how it can help in the producing of form and sculpture.

The real beauty though is when we actually see it in every day life, for me this is magical, so don't just look, connect.!

Genesis