Aurora

Two latest pictures inspired by the night sky.

The pictures here are of a low resolution/low quality with high resolution picture files available for printing 1 meter high.

A few more

Latest pictures in my sea urchin series, with more being created for the new year.

Update

Well it is almost the end of 2013, where the time has gone I just do not know, I am sure the older we get the faster time travels. 

The Bazaar at Bull Mill Arts was a great success for all and I will hopefully be attending next year.

2013 has been a great year, the collaboration in Ireland, the AWGB seminar and the finishing of my first book which will be out in March, lots of other work being produced and designed some of which even made it to reality. 

It always seem to be that I do not get time to produce as many new works as I would like, but this is one of the negatives of turning for a living as the bread and butter has to come before the exploration. It is however satisfying that my previous explorations have now started to become my bread and butter so to speak so it is an important part of what I do in the background.  

My work is my passion so I never get those 'Monday morning blues', in fact I have to be careful on weekends to lock the workshop as I would quite happily turn every day of the week. 

The digital art is still being developed, as with the picture above, I am determined to move it further forward next year, while it has served me well this year I have not achieved all I wanted, but then if I did that there would be nothing left to do. I have been experimenting with other software for the development of form and ideas which as produced excellent results, more about this later on. 

More articles and possibly another book in 2014, lots of demonstrations booked, tuition and work to be made for galleries so there is a lot to do. 

One of the best parts of woodturning is that I get to meet great people, many that have become good friends.

So to all that read my blog, thank you for your interest, I hope you and your family have a relaxing festive season and a healthy and prosperous new year.

Bull MIll arts Bazaar

From the 9th to the 19th of December Bull Mill Arts at Crockerton, nr, Warminster, Wiltshire, are having their Christmas Bazaar. You can view and purchase unique art, craft, sculpture and many other inspirational items from the makers that are part of Bull Mill or by those invited to exhibit. For details se the flyer above or visit Bull Mill web site. Great work by inspirational makers, well worth a visit.

Update

This time of year is manic in the workshop, not only do the galleries need filling before Christmas,  a lot of roughing out has to be completed in preparation for the following year to keep stocks flowing.

Above are some 100 bowl, hollow form, vase and box blanks, all sealed and waiting to be roughed out which will be done over the next week to make place for several more hundred blanks and so on.

Also I have been continuing to take pictures for interest and reference as well as computer generated fractal designs shown below. 

The sculptures that I have been developing are coming along albeit slow as I have so much other work to get through at the moment with this being the busiest year to date. 

The cold weather is making me look forward to a trip to Spain in March of next year to demonstrate, more about this nearer the time.

A few computer generated forms

'Urchin'

This picture is of the first in a new series of fractal generated pictures I have been developing, 'Urchin' inspired from the creatures of the sea.

Inspiring

This time of year I always find very inspiring, the changing of lush greens to deep browns and reds of leaves, the rotting vegetation and quickly changing scenes across in the landscape are particularly inspiring for my work.

The picture above is of a leaf from an Acer japonica in my gardenm, probably if not my favourite tree, although the ornamental cherry comes a close second.

Flow

This is the latest computer renderings I have been working on. It took a while to get the effect I was after in the 'Flow' picture. The one below is a further development in my 'Orchid' series.

Another

This is another recently finished piece incorporating the same methods as the previous forms shown.

Recently finished piece

The piece here was made to replace a similar previous piece shown for a gallery showcase at The Grey Door Gallery, Castle Cary as the first piece which was intended for the showcase was purchased and now resides in Hong Kong so I had to get my skates onto make another, the one that now has new home is shown below.

Contact with the Grey Door Gallery was by chance when my work was recommended to them by a customer of mine. The gallery is located in the ancient town of Castle Cary that records first list as far back as the Norman Invasion. The quality of work on display, including ceramics, glass and paintings which is of a high standard which was evident to me when I went along initially to show some of my work to the owner and I was very pleased to have mine accepted.  

The showcase last until the end of October at which time I have been asked to submit  more work for the run up to the Christmas season.