The freedom of thought, create and expand,
hesitation, doubt, control and command.
If nothing else, has given life depth,
the minds eye, brings new concept.
Committed to different, unique,
uneducated, but won’t accept defeat.
Clash of contrasting techniques, light, dark,
elegance, as we begin, embark.
A mid-tone sky, the setting for thought,
titans clash, structure contort.
The vortex erupts, as colours collide,
intertwined, by no mans laws they abide.
No matter which view, captures our eyes,
doomed only to die, when mother nature decides.

First things first. I have a very limited education and I’m apparently heavily ADHD and blah blah blah goes the doctors prognosis. This has influenced heavily on my limited education, but whatever, I’m already onto several other topics. My attempt at poetry was just me putting words to paper. I fucking suck at talking outside of this format, but I find through writing I can relax and say what I actual mean, even if not understood, at least some clarity on my end.

Either way, I would usually put up a standard post on this project. A simple “this is what we did and here’s some photos” type of setup. Very exciting. But I just wanted to put down some words on the background of this design and how it was implemented.  Maybe a little bit so anyone reading this gibberish might get some meaning behind certain aspects of things…..maybe I just want to put my head onto paper so I can understand the ferris wheel myself and maybe improve upon what we do. Either way, my headphones just rocked out and Pearl Jam is bringing it home…..BRB.

Surely this won’t take long….

Stormy Skies, great name huh? Full credit to my awesome wife. We have a relationship where I use the colouring pencils and she gives my craziness a heading for Google. But, that, simple little thing of giving my designs a name, an inspiration, has allowed us to start moving away from “imitating” things and putting our actual artistic designs onto the concrete canvas. Not only for our clients to (hopefully) enjoy, but also for the world to judge (OK, maybe “world” is a bit extreme, lets just stick with Gold Coast and Surrounds).

And man does it put on pressure. Dangling out on a limb. Sliding along a knife edge wondering if what we just put down on the our canvas will be liked…or at least seen for it’s rendition of what we’re trying to acheive. I’m so glad I’m not a movie star, constantly being judged my entire life would drive me crazy…..er than I already am.

But lets stop shooting shit and get back to “Stormy Skies”.

I’ll put some photos up next with some explanations on the thought process and where I’m heading with it. The idea that is put into an assured vision of creation, with products that are seldom able to be controlled (epoxy). Living the dream……

First things first, our clients. You guys are so amazing. Thank you so kindly for the bottom of our hearts for looking on our work and providing us the freedom of thought and creation to simply design in it’s true essence, without restraints.

Before the main pretty shit got started, we got down to business installing some concrete for “convenience in parking purposes”….farking boring. But necessary nonetheless.

From here we are basically left with an open schedule to not only recreate our “Stormy Skies, but make it unique to this property. The main challenge we are faced with, was the rear pathways needed to be resurfaced with spray products, along with the driveway, but somewhere inbetween, the garage needed to be installed with a completely different medium….metallic epoxy.

Sitting down through several meetings which was basically just me sitting there trying to picture an end result, I had a design style in my mind, making our “Stormy Skies” unique. My wife wanted me to put it down on paper….make reference to what it was, but that just didn’t make sense while I was off patting the clients dog, so I just did what I normally do, take several mental notes and keep my fingers crossed I don’t have a brain aneurysm somewhere between then and installation time. She’ll be right….Right?

I started with the rear path as we would need to complete the epoxy in the garage before starting on the driveway, epoxy has a habit of running into areas unwanted when doing metallic’s in a garage, so I wanted to make sure if we got any over spills, they could be cleaned up properly before doing the spray resurfacing on the driveway…..structural integrity etc etc blah blah.

So with the spray design, we’re going with the typical design for “Stormy Skies”, but I guess the “unique to this installation” part comes from fine tuning the design itself. Implicating a softer spray pattern that allows for more of the colour underneath to show through, that through a lighter touch, actually allows for more colour toning throughout, as the main colour isn’t as full on (man I doubt that makes sense to anyone else……diddlydee POTATOES!)

This of course has to be combined with the right mixing of products and correct nozzles with pressure applications to allow for this kind of spray….but I won’t get into specifics as it’s taken well over a decade to learn this and I’ll simply start mentally wandering off if we get into education shit.

Also allowing for much broader spray patterns through the white detailing, working on flow while connecting the decorations, then bringing Midnight Blue through to contrast heavily, but broadly against the oposing sections of the storm.

Simple tricks with resurfacing involve flecking to varying degrees. Yes, most installers will tell you how they fleck their work and it’s so impressive and amazing…..psst, inside info…..it’s a trick to hide mistakes a lot of the time and help things flow a bit better. Neccessary a lot of the time, but just don’t drink the coolaide.

Now don’t get me wrong, everything we do that is meant to have a more “natural” feel, I fleck as well to varying degrees, it’s just what we do, but this design, there is no flecking and no room for it. Live and die by my control of my “trigger finger” (corny but true.) Few mistakes and little room for error, this design, for spray resurfacing at least, relies on heavy contrasting of the confronting storm, as it builds towards something more severe.

This is where worlds collide. The true star of the show. Metallic Epoxy customised to not only suit the design style of what we’re doing outside, but also capture a different moment in time. Another segment of chaos where the clash of light and dark combine into a whirlwind vortex of opposing forces. The heart of true mayhem, subtly combined by mother nature in an awe inspiring sense of amazement as you watch the forces collide and create true chaos. Lightning. Thunder. Dogs barking…..at least my assholes anyway. Damn Pomeranians! My Little Soldier

I don’t know. Maybe it’s just me. This is my head on a daily basis. This clash of good vs evil. Light vs dark. Do I or Don’t I?

Somehow, it all makes sense and the right path is chosen….well at least reached anyway…albeit with a few scars along the way.

The storm subsided, at least the eye. It has passed. The chaos of light and dark now superceded by a twilight that still holds the fundemental elements mother nature provided, but in a much more solemn context.

We flow from the garage through the driveway, directly meeting as the clouds flow from garage to driveway, returning the same feeling of the rear sections, still heavily contrasted in colour as the beast teeters to the street below.

We finish and return a sense of reason and normality in tune with the rest of societies norms.

Level once again, until, tomorrow, when chaos returns to bring us once more to the brink of insanity.

Full project writeup HERE