Art Gallery invitation submission, "Spring is in the air"

[Leo Van Der Loo]

I got an invitation from a art Gallery in Thunder-Bay, for a submission and it was to be "Spring" themed.

Had to scratch my head a bit for the "Spring theme" doesn't easily apply to wood turnings at first thought.

Then got an idea I thought I could pull off in time for this Spring show, though I had to scrounge some pieces together and do some turning as well.

I had a couple of pieces of Aspen crotch-wood sitting in the shop and I used one for a base, had to bandsaw the ends round and flatten the bottom, then before getting into the bush to cut a curved piece (the snow is still pretty deep here :eek:) of wood, I had a look at a box full of Lilac shrub wood that I had brought up from my son in Ottawa last time I was up there, found one piece that I could use I thought.

Cleaned the end up and removed the bark from the bottom 2 inches, it still would have to go in on a slant to make enough of a curve as I envisioned it, so drilled the right size hole on a slant in the base and fitted the piece into it.

Turned a dozen Bird-houses and picked 5 to hang onto the branch, also added a couple of miniature Birds to the piece to round out the idea of "Spring is in the air" as I have named it :D.

Made a picture and submitted it, got a reply that they expect me to bring it in and it will be displayed for a Month of this Spring themed exhibition.

It was fun making it and wanted to show it off of course :D ;).

Any and all comments welcome.

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[Wally Wenzel]

Great idea, and very nice turning work. How tall are the bird houses?
Wally

[Thom Sturgill]

Glad to see you ar eup to some turning - don't over strain yourself Leo. This piece should show well, nice arrangement.

[Baxter Smith]

Very fitting Leo! Glad to see your birdhouses and that you are getting to spend some time in your shop!

[Jeff Fagen]

I think you really pulled it off Leo.It was a good idea to place the birds on the branch,lord knows they never stay glued to their perch. :)

[Kathy Marshall]

Congrats on the invitation and acceptance Leo! Looks great and I also like the birds sitting on the branch.

[Allan Ferguson]

Nice work as usual and a great display idea/theme. Alla

[charlie knighton]

glad to see you turning again Leo, enjoy

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Great idea, and very nice turning work. How tall are the bird houses?
Wally

Thanks for commenting Wally, these Birdhouses are from 9 to 15 cm long most have about 5 cm wide roofs, that's 3.5" to 6" tall and 2" wide ;)


Glad to see you are up to some turning - don't over strain yourself Leo. This piece should show well, nice arrangement.

Thanks Thom, Oh I'm doing really well, the doctor told me I could go back to turning, just no heavy lifting, that was good enough for me :D, used the snowblower with no problem :)
Appreciate your comment Thom


Very fitting Leo! Glad to see your birdhouses and that you are getting to spend some time in your shop!

Thank you Baxter :D, it is fun again, still being restrained a bit, but there are ways around that, and these Birdhouses did do the trick here, thanks again :)


I think you really pulled it off Leo. It was a good idea to place the birds on the branch, lord knows they never stay glued to their perch. :)

Thanks for commenting Jeff, art is still very much thought of as being strictly painting and carving, not wood-turning, I'll never change that, but maybe some will look at it with other eyes, wood sculpting yes ;)


Congrats on the invitation and acceptance Leo! Looks great and I also like the birds sitting on the branch.

Thanks for your comment Kathy :), foot in the door and some exposure in a new for me area, it should not hurt I hope, the birds in the real world do sit up high shouting out their songs in the spring, did fit well here IMO ;)


Nice work as usual and a great display idea/theme. Alla

Thanks for taking the time to comment Allan :D, we'll still have to find out how it's going to go over, but it was fun taking an idea and working it out :)


glad to see you turning again Leo, enjoy

Thanks Charlie :), you know what they say "you can't keep a **** man down" ;) :rolleyes: :eek:, HA

[Fred Belknap]

Looks mighty fine, glad you are recovering ok.

[Brian Kent]

Wonderful creativity and it is great to see your new work.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Looks mighty fine, glad you are recovering ok.

Thank you Fred :D, yes me to, I'm told that I'm doing real well, just got to tale it easy still :D


Wonderful creativity and it is great to see your new work.

Thanks Brian :), the new is always more alluring to me than the old still to finish pieces, but it has to to be done as well................... I think :rolleyes:

[James Combs]

Leo thanks for posting and congrats, love the presentation. It's a reminder too that I need to get cracking on my own birdhouses and I may have to "borrow" your idea somewhat.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Congrats Leo on your acceptance and love your birdhouse presentation. Glad to see ya back turning. Take it easy and enjoy. I may borrow your idea as I just got asked to display and sell at a convention center that wants to promote Kansas homemade products and western themes.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Leo thanks for posting and congrats, love the presentation. It's a reminder too that I need to get cracking on my own birdhouses and I may have to "borrow" your idea somewhat.

Thanks James :), I've turned quite a lot of these Birdhouse ornaments, and still am able to make each one a "one of a kind", they are never the same, and I like turning these things.

Getting to display them is a bit of a challenge for me, but I always try to keep it a natural type setting, and of course you are welcome to use the idea, I just hope you will show yours here as well, we all learn from each other.

Have fun and keep on turning, the safe way.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Congrats Leo on your acceptance and love your birdhouse presentation. Glad to see ya back turning. Take it easy and enjoy. I may borrow your idea as I just got asked to display and sell at a convention center that wants to promote Kansas homemade products and western themes.

Thank you Bernie :), Oh that's good news Bernie, I wish you luck, these small pieces like the Birdhouses are just the type and size of thing that visitors can take back home with them.

You are of course welcome to use the display idea Bernie, and I hope you will show us your pictures of the setup, it will be good to see and hear if it went over well.

I was restricted in the size I could build now, but I have used a rather big Burr Oak branch one time to present turnings, the rough looking Burr Oak bark worked real well for that, it was before I had a digital camera and never made a picture of that.