Tuesday, July 6, 2010

the art of ironing

So, years ago hubby learned the art of blacksmithing from an old timer....dabbled in it a bit ....making practical gimcracks and whatnots ....you know, hobby , time burning , driving-wife-crazy stuff. And I thought, as all wives do....how can I make better use of hubbys time??
It was only natural and inevitable that I would eventually covert this properly trained blacksmith to the dark, seedy world of art.
Ok, maybe not dark.....but surely twisted a tad.
So here is our collaborating of iron and canvas....
Hubby heats, bends, contorts old farm tools and implements ...(pitchforks are a favorite)...into sculptural displays for my paintings.
more forging hammers than you can shake a stick ata few finished florals....................pigtails and pig iron.....the old Swedish anvil........Dick at workDick is very proud that everything is hand forged in a very primitive manner.....without the use of power tools or any type of electrical equipment.....
After the metal cools, I come along and "purdy-up" and fit the molded and melded iron with a painting that suits it best.
Voila! A perfect marriage of metal and canvas.