House Painting

Over the last one and a half weeks I've been painting a mates house in Carterton, South Wairarapa, NZ. We're slowly working our way to completing the outside. Rain, wind and sunshine have been the main hazards, not to forget it's winter and yes, I said sunshine! Overcast days are the best. In the Wairarapa you can almost guarantee you'll get four seasons in one day hence the length of time it's taken so far. 
On the other side of things, I've been working on a business card design in my spare time. Ta Moko is the permanent body and face marking by Maori. There's still plenty of room to play around with the design too.

 

Water fowl carving

I thought I would share this carving of a local waterfowl, in abstract form. This particular waterfowl would use his colouring and extension of it's head pointing upwards to blend in with the reeds. I carved it from Tasmanian Blackwood. The base is a native timber Totara. I donated this carving to the community for them to raffle off.

New Carving

This is my latest carving. It took approx 10 hours to complete. It is deer antler that is very old and was buried for several years. The colour gives the illusion that it has been stained but I can say it has not. There could be something very special happening with this particular carving and I am waiting for a reply before I reveal anything on here. The leaf-side of the carving is the back and carving itself is titled Únity'. I hope you like my newest piece of art.

Two new bone carvings

Here are my latest bone carvings. One was based on the outer shape of a tear/raindrop so it's title is rain droplet. The other one I'm not sure what it looks like to others but it looks like a particular part of a male appendage. It is actually a contemporary designed fish hook (Hei Matau).

Pounamu(Greenstone)

It has been a long time since I have worked on this piece of Pounamu. I've spent the last few days shaping it. I believe I am not far off of going through the sanding process. Exciting stuff!!! This will also be my first Pounamu carving.

 I've included the early stage (right),which I have placed on here before to refresh your memory. As you can see I have made some changes above.

New work completed

Here are a few more Gecko designs. I've done my dash for these. I'm going to work on some new bone carvings over the next week and also a sculpture. There are some little light blurs happening on the top image created from the gloss surface the image was resting on for the photo.
 I'm house sitting for the next week and it looks like I might not have internet access for that week. Merry Xmas everybody.

Pounamu update

This is my second day working on this piece of Pounamu(greenstone, NZ Jade). I have enjoyed todays progress. I'm looking forward to tomorrow.
                                                           Size:  6 cm W x 9.5 cm H

Koi feeding

This is my recent painting titled 'Koi feeding. It is 30In x 30in in size on a stretched canvas. I still need to apply a fixative to it and am waiting for a warm day to help the drying process.

Untitled work

I began this piece of artwork as a sketch/doodle not sure what or where I was going. Colour choice was black and white and red which are the 3 main colours used in Maori Kowhaiwhai (pattern). This drawing is 22 inches W x 32 inches H. Drawn with  pastel, ink and pencil.
The photo looks a bit cloudy due to the light shining into my room.

Two carvings

These are my latest jewelry pieces. The pendant is from wood, I'm unsure what type but will hazard a guess and say limewood based on that it smelled like limes when I was working on it.  The pendant on the top right is the feminine side with it's soft curves and the pendant bottom left is the masculine side with it's crisp lines which means it is suited for both sexes.

The other is beef bone and the back side is greenstone. I will include a photo of the back at a later date. The etching of the Kowhai flower is called scrimshaw.

 I plait my own cord which is black waxed nylon cord

The Temptations of John the Baptist

Finally I have found the time to make the base for this deer antler carving. I certainly add to my own stress level by working on too many projects at once. I'm hoping to have learned my lesson. It's a lovely grain running along the edge of the base.  Forgive me for the background. Carving measures 24cm L and has been stained in a tea blend. The base is made from Totora.

new wood carving

The piece of driftwood I purchased from the arts recycling center the other day is now beginning to take shape. It is a very hard wood. I'm guessing it is Jarra but have my fingers crossed that it's Black Maire. Even my files are working hard to remove the wood. I've spent most of today thinking about the back of the carving and as you can see by the image I have begun work on it. As far as a story for this piece, I still am working on that too. The top image is day two where I have started to add more detailing to the hands etc. The bottom image was from yesterday.

Maori Carving

Although progress is slow you can begin to see the carving come to life. Still a long way to go I want to be patient and focus on  craftsmanship. I'm still a bit unsure where I want to take this but I'm sure it will come to me.

Logo design

So, it goes like this. I decided to create my own logo for my wordpress site. I hadn't considered size and as the site/theme header was rectangular (beats me why I didn't check this out first) I was stuck with a design that will need some reworking. I am so disappointed. Anyway, you can view my designs at http://www.darrengartist.wordpress.com. At present I only have free designs on my site. I will be uploading images of new paintings I have completed in the last few days along with bone carvings.

Abstract Flower

Sorry for the delay in posting the progress of the abstract flower. I've been preoccupied stripping wallpaper for the last 3 days. You may or may not have recognised that I have decided that this is going to be an abstract flower. As I am focused on producing souvenir artwork for international visitors to NZ the design will also reflect that in it's title once completed. (The timber is also native to NZ, Totara).

Due to not have done the scalloped effect I am trying to create here, you can see that I still have quite a bit of work to do just on these two. The top scallop needs to have more curvature, which, once I started the 2nd one began to become clearer as to how to accomplish this, I can now work with more confidence in reproducing each segment.

Deer antler progress

I don't know if anyone can see the difference from the previous images of this bone carving but I hope you can. Today I began carving Pounamu (greenstone) which will be incorporated into the carving. I'm also pretty sure this won't polish up as nice as I would like.

Manaia update

As you can see below the progress is reasonably slow mostly because I choose to use hand tools instead of electric tools. I have cut the bone in half  for a reason, which I will reveal when the time is right. Due to the age of the bone it looks and feels like a white wood. I'm not sure how it will polish up once completed.

I can give you a rough outline of the meaning so far. This is not written in stone, just a starting point. The Spiral patterns represent turmoil while the Manaia weaves it's way through the water. This is what I see at present and once I have completed the carving I will have a better understanding of it's meaning then.

The top image shows the tail of the Manaia wrapping round the bone.

Manaia day 3

The slowest process has begun. I've started carving the pattern design. It's still early days but as you can see from my previous posts it's starting to progress nicely.

 A day off tomorrow and hopefully I'll be back into it on Tuesday.

Bulls horn sketch

If anyone has an idea of what type of animal this bone belongs to please place a comment. Obviously the tip has been carved by the previous owner. It had been polished before I received it. Whether the polish gave the green look to it I'm unsure.

The sketch depicts 3 Manaia (Guardian spirits) ascending to heaven. I haven't quite worked out the story completely yet and would rather leave the meaning as is so you can come to your own conclusions. It will stand upright once carved.

Title: Ascension

Manaia carving (part 2)

Showing a bit more detail from the previous session I can see where I'm heading with this carving now. Vision is not guaranteed but I can only keep working away until it is complete.

The image below shows the earlier stage from the one above. This is carved from deer antler.