“Plantsman’s Table”
 
for Piet Oudolf
 
old oak
 
"Table with Curved Brace"
 
for Gianni
 
old oak
“Table with One End Orange”
 
old oak, denuded steel, paint
“Table with Wild Underbelly”
 
old oak, seasoned oak, denuded steel wire

 

“Table with Wild Underbelly”
 
The materials are a mixture of old barn timbers (frame) and unused air-dried oak boards which display waterstains and stick marks (top). Their ends have been left cut as they were by the sawyer and not neatened up, which is something I’ll do (or rather not do) whenever it feels right. Straightness for its own sake does not necessarily say or do that much, does it? But I have made the divide between the two boards central not offset, so that the effect – vaguely reminiscent of a geological fault – is focal. Most of the other lines here are tilted (legs, wires, braces).
While the markings on top may be arrestingly animal, for me it is underneath (in the frame) that the textures and dynamics are most dramatic. Typical.
 

 
“Table with Blue In It”
 
old oak, paint

 

“Table with Blue In It”
 
This is the fourth table I have made with old nailheads protruding and the first where the tops of the legs break the surface (rocks on the beach). What a great feeling. The timber is all old oak – the four top boards, for instance, are old flooring joists; and the diagonal brace with hints of pale blue on it is part of an old boat hull which I rescued from a boatyard in Exmouth. I have spaced the top boards well out so that the underlying structure and rows of nailheads along the edges of the boards are more visible.
The blue (on the ends) is maybe reminiscent of a good summer.
 

 
Part of a Table top showing weathered surfaces and naily edges
“Table with White Ends”
 
old oak, denuded steel wire, paint
”Plantsman’s Table No.2”
 
showing water-stained surfaces and beautiful repair