Saturday 18 May 2013

focus on life–week 20–looking up

Here we are week 20, wow.  I was doubting I would have something to share, but wanted to keep up.  Sally Russick of the Studio Sublime has given week after week of thoughtful photo prompts, I always look forward to receiving.  So I whined last week about being sick, and man was it a tough one. I had no voice at all for three days and Tuesday I did spend a great deal of time looking up, the only way to relieve the sinus pain, but no photos.  Here is a moment instead from Thursday afternoon.

focusonlife up

I was sitting on my front step looking at these metal butterflies I had installed six years earlier.  They had this open scrollwork I guess you would call it, naturally I felt compelled to fill those spaces with polymer.  I remember researching about outdoor use and most said to stay clear.  I figured it was worth a shot, I could always remove it if ti faded or degraded.  I have to say it has held up remarkably well!  We get nice hot summers and damn cold winters and these are screwed into the brick so they have been in place to see it all (on a west facing wall). 

When they first went up it was a variety of marbled purples, copper, green and white.  The copper, green and white look the same today as they did then.  The purples however have shifted to blues which I find quite curious since usually red pigments are so much stronger and more lightfast.  Still looks good to me so there they stay.

Time to go look up what everyone is looking up at …

10 comments:

  1. I love butterflies, and these are just beautiful!
    have a great week :)

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  2. I don't tend to follow directions... I did a mozaic on a stainless steel bowl and added purple acrilic paint to the grout. It seems to have made the grout much more elastic... nothing has ever cracked.. unlike the tiles on our dining room table... the grout is falling out of it in big chunks... same grout different starting base colour!

    I coloured a sandblasted window... and I think it was the purple that went white... the yellows and greens stayed true to colour!

    Lynne

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  3. I'm sorry about your sinuses. They can ruin a day. I never would've thought about using polymer outside. Clever! And I love your butterflies against the brick.

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  4. I love butterflies too and these look beautiful to me. Interesting to use polymer outside. I like it. I imagine the color could fade over time but six years is a pretty good run.
    ~Ema
    http://www.emakdesigns.com/blog

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  5. so sorry you haven't been feeling well, hope you're feeling better! those butterflies are wonderful and so clever to attach them right to the brick!

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  6. Love your flutte-byes as my kids quite rightly used to call them...great idea to add the poly clay!

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  7. Sorry to hear you weren't feeling well, glad you got a chance to look up! Great butterflies!

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  8. I love the butterflies, great idea to add the polymer clay!

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  9. I love the butterflys on the brick!! Great shot.

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  10. I sure do hope you are finally feeling better. Sinus pain is awful! I love your creative experiment that lasted all this time. Who said we have to listen to "experts"!

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I'd love to hear what you think, thanks for taking the time to join in the conversation