Bruce Derrett: Metal Artist

Bruce Derrett: Metal Artist

I’ve been spending a bit more time with metal artist  Bruce Derrett, enjoying the challenge of getting high quality images of his creations.  He’s kindly given me permission to show a few here.  Let’s start with some bowls, the first a very simple but elegant model.  Better for fruit than salads, I suspect.

 

 

Artist: Bruce Derrett
Artist: Bruce Derrett

The next combines metal and burr (the padlock still works):

Artist: Bruce Derrett
Artist: Bruce Derrett

 

Or, if you prefer slightly less figuring in your wood:

Artist: Bruce Derrett
Artist: Bruce Derrett

 

One of my favorites is the gardener:

Artist: Bruce Derrett
Artist: Bruce Derrett

 

Some of Bruce’s stuff is quite zany, for example this punk pig:

Artist: Bruce Derrett
Artist: Bruce Derrett

 

The climbers are fun too:

wpid4771-MetalArt-12.JPG

 

Artist: Bruce Derrett
Artist: Bruce Derrett
Artist: Bruce Derrett
Artist: Bruce Derrett
Artist: Bruce Derrett
Artist: Bruce Derrett

 

 

 

 

Artist: Bruce Derrett
Artist: BruceDerrett

The larger works also have wonderful detail:

Artist: Bruce Derrett
Artist: Bruce Derrett

 

How on earth does he create these?  My photographs don’t help much.  Here he is about to start on a John Dory:

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But what’s that bit for?  I didn’t have a clue, but he spent a lot of time cleaning it up.

wpid4769-MetalArt-11.JPG

 

Can you see it in the finished piece?

Bruce Derrett
Artist: Bruce Derrett

I enjoy trying different backgrounds and treatments, for example this deep sea lantern fish:

Bruce Derrett
Artist: Bruce Derrett

 

For the photographers:  some of these, such as the fish, are quite large.  I’ve found I get maximum sharpness with my old 105 mm f:4 manual micro nikkor  by using a fairly wide aperture (5.6 or 8), taking 10 or a dozen shots and using focus stacking to produce the final image.  The best will end up as limited edition fine art prints, which is a lot of fun.

 

 

 

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