Shaggy dog stories ?

A wet day, but at least the rain wasn’t torrential. A thick mist blanketed the Quantocks Hills obscuring our view from the tump. With the weather still being quite warm, the garden itself was steaming. The ‘Horn’ has now gone all shaggy in the rain, with the ends of the raffia hanging down vertically, and now resembles a wet, shaggy dog.

First day of Somerset Art Week 2013

First day of art week and it wasn’t raining!

I managed to get some more photos before any visitors arrived.

What I find interesting, is how different this sculpture looks depending on your viewing point/how trees and plants obscure or partially obscure your view. It was very difficult trying to get the best overall position for this work and I kept asking Denise to help me reposition it and then went wandering off into the garden to view it again from all angles. She was very patient with me…..This is when I could have done with a technical team to do the moving….communicating via our mobiles!

The more I look at this work, the more aquatic or possibly prehistoric it becomes……the slightly blurred picture with the Gunnera definitely looks vaguely like a giant sea-slug, slithering off into the undergrowth, or is this just me?

Art or Lost Property?

This image caught my eye while observing the installations for the Quartz Festival at Queens.....

Installation complete

What a difference a day makes

24hrs later and there is blue sky, the sun is shining, and the acer is showing off its autumnal colours.

I was determined to finish today and with hard work, short breaks and Denise’s invaluable help, we eventually got there….

The Horn is now intact and fixed into the ground with U shaped hooks, whacked in with a club hammer…….even if this job did require my crawling into a black hole!

Rain stops play

Arrived early today at Little Yarford Farmhouse in Kingston St Mary, and with my friend Denise's help, managed to persuade the big end to become part of the overall structure.......several rests and a large bar of chocolate, and the horn of plenty was complete. We then filled in the internal gaps with black ground cover material,  had a quick game of hula hoop, and then attempted to insert the reinforcing rings before torrential rain persuaded us to go home. So far the weather forecast is looking good for tomorrow.....

See http://sawabundance.wordpress.com/category/gillian-widden/ for the full story of the Horn of Plenty.

Transportation complete

We loaded part one and two of the ‘horn’ (joined),  on to the truck at 8pm on Friday night in the pouring rain. As soon as we had finished securing the load,  the rain stopped… We were all absolutely soaked through and my hair was plastered to my head as though I had been swimming!

We left the house at 7.15 the next morning en route for Kingston St Mary. A convoy of one truck and one car. David, Chris and myself were allocated the lifting whilst Peter’s role was as official photographer (and for a thirteen year old, I think he did a pretty good job).  Luckily it was not raining and although the garden was full of early morning wetness, the sun was shining and the trees and plants looked fantastic.

The first load was the most problematical but the second load was a complete doddle.

Tuesday is installation day and is everybody happy??? I shall be if it doesn’t rain!

The morning after the night before

Well we had the Private View last night at Cotley Tithe Barn near Chard. A busy evening but it seemed to go off well. I went in the morning to clean up and remove and recycle the rubbish and the empties......
I took the opportunity to get some decent photos of my work without the scaffolding. They still sometimes remind me of the seed sticks you give to budgies!!
It was good to see some of my locals including farming families and lots of people were interested in the origins of the hooked teasel, and I've now left a couple of hooked teasels in a jam jar on the window sill of the barn.

Kings, Queens and Buttons

Installation time......a bit traumatic but got there in the end with expertise from Tim and Ruth.
Six poles of teasels are now hung from the roof of the Tithe barn at Cotley Nr Chard. The title Kings, Queens, and Buttons represents the size of teasels that were cut. The harvest started with the biggest, then medium sized and finally the smallest teasels on the plant. The green teasels, on the pole which represents 1940s, form a significant curve (which happened because of the way the pole was lying at home, and the fact that the green teasels are much heavier as they are full of seeds), and appears to be very much a living thing.....growing and expanding. This pole is also shedding lots of teasel seeds all over the barn floor......the mice will have fun!

The end

The third and final part of the horn is complete. The rain has now started so too wet to attempt the reassembly....maybe tomorrow?

Horn of Plenty.....Two thirds completed

Using a curved 'leather' needle and raffia, I have been sewing the bundles of reeds on to the black (ground cover) background, and it is taking forever.......a very slow process. But two thirds are now completed and the smallest section yet to be done. I hope to finish it today and have a trial at putting it together over the weekend. Let's hope it fits!