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In between his visits to Northcliffe, which by the way is an over 400km round trip, Thomas was busy gilding the tree. Slowly but surely the tree takes on a very impressive and imposing look.

Last weekend Thomas visited Northcliffe once more to pour the concrete for the installation of the tree. With the weather being just perfect and the valuable help of Peter Hill again, this was another very productive day.   

Since the tree has been cut down Thomas was busy with de-barking and cleaning it; due to its massive size that took many hours to finish.

This process exposed all the more the wonderful lumps, bumps and scars of that tree. Re- inforcing again, that Thomas has made the right decision of not giving up his search for the perfect shaped tree.

A good part of the tree has already been painted (red) to seal the timber in preparation for the gilding process. After this section has been gilded the truck/crane contractor has to come back to turn the tree over for Thomas to be able to work on the next segment of it.

In the meantime the Engineer has been busy preparing the installation drawings and Thomas visited this weekend Northcliffe to set up the installation site with the help of local artist Peter Hill. The spot was dug up, lined and the cage set up for the concrete pour.

A local workshop has been contracted to manufacture the brackets to anchor the tree once it is installed.

Next weekend Thomas will head down to Northcliffe again to pour the concrete.

It has been a long time since my last update and I apologize for that, but the search for the perfect shaped tree turned out much harder than ever anticipated. 

When you drive through the South West one sees dead Jarrah trees everywhere but once you set your mind on a certain shape and the tree has to have additionally the ability and strength to withstand plenty of handling and transporting it is an entirely different story. 

Thomas would have absolutely loved to have that project completed a long time ago, but he also never takes second best and was always convinced that one day he will find the perfect tree for his plan. And he did.

Not only has Thomas found a tree but he already has THE TREE cut down and craned onsite (in front of his studio) for the cleaning and gilding process. 

Thomas travelled lots and lots and covered an enormous amount of kilometer on the search for a suitable tree. He actually found two other ones, but through speaking with several contractors we learnt that things weren`t as easy as anticipated. 

All contractors had basically one message for us - which were ultimately - that a dried out large Jarrah is too brittle for the job and the delicate branches would snap off during the working process or during transport.

As, off course, Thomas didn`t want to cut off a live tree, neither wanted to settle for a smaller sized type, he decided to go for a more sculptural old, dead and gnarly looking  tree stump.

He wanted a tree which flaunts a lot of history through his gnarly, knotty and complex appearance. 

And that one he found a few weeks ago. 

In the meantime it has been cut down and craned to our block for preparation and gilding.

It is 7m high and around 70cm in diameter – it is BIG & BEAUTIFUL. 

Due to its sheer size and the vast amount of work which is involved, parts of the work will be done before the tree will be installed.

Thomas will then stay in Northcliffe for a while to complete the gilding process and make final finishes. 

This was Thomas third visit to Northcliffe in search for a suitable tree with the perfect shape.

The part of finding the tree turns out to be much harder than anticipated. They are too large, too decayed or inaccessible.

We also found out that many trees cannot be seen from the roadside; therefore permission needs to be gained from the owners/farmers to enter their properties. Thanks to Peter Hill and his enormous recognition in the Northcliffe Community this has been granted on various occasions.

Additionally the trek behind the `Understory’ Sculpture walk is currently still far too wet to even think about getting equipment in there.

So another trip is planned in 4 weeks time in pursuit for the perfect tree and to inspect if the trek did dry out.

Please click on an image to enlarge it

Please click on an image to enlarge it

Thomas recently started his gilding Master Class in Sydney.

With only one other student in the class he basically receives one on one tutoring from Master Gilder Karl Eggert and his wife Brigitte.

Karl is one of the world’s pre-eminent experts on metal leaf gilding with over 45 years of experience.

Photos from the class will be uploaded soon.

This project was proudly funded by the

and Southern Forrest Arts, Northcliffe, WA.

The Tree project will start in late August with a Master Class by Master Gilder Karl Eggert in Sydney.