Seduced by Cog Wheels – What?

In an earlier blog I talked about seeing beauty in everything. In that post I talked about vegetables and flowers. But what about machinery?

I confess to seeing the beauty in something as simple as cog wheels. But I would broaden that out to nuts, bolts, cogs and wheels – anything mechanical in fact. And I am not interested in the whole vehicle or machine, just the working parts – the older and rustier the better.

I am Wowed by the Mechanical Detail of Farm Machinery

Old farm machinery always seems to provide me with that enticing mixture of nuts, bolts, cogs and wheels together with copious amounts of dark oil residue and rust!

Chaff Cutter Mechanism – a Beauty to Behold!

At a Garden Center just outside Brighton in the UK I came across a display of old farm equipment that had me salivating. People must have thought I was mad squatting down to photograph tiny details or leaning precariously over old engines trying to get an interesting shot! One piece, a chaff cutter, kept my attention for some time.

From the photographs I took I developed two pieces of photo art, both emphasizing the cogs, wheels and rust!

I am not sure which of the two is my favorite, though I think probably the second as I love the different colors of the cogs and the intricacy of their interplay. I deliberately developed these two so that they could be displayed together, using the same photo painting techniques on both.

Antique Ploughing Machinery

Visiting the exhibition a second time several months later, I found some new additions to the collection. This included a wonderful old piece of ploughing equipment with most fantastic mechanical parts – yep, you guessed it, nuts, bolts, cogs and wheels. But this also had a wonderful contrast between the metal and the wooden frame of the vehicle that I tried to capture. This time I chose black and white.

So, there is no hope for me – addicted to bringing out the beauty in the most unlikely of objects!

Where You Can Purchase My Images

Pictorem offers a range of fine art prints of my art images in various formats. Free shipping in North America.

RedBubble has a large range of products available from world-wide printers.  As well as a range of wall art and home decor items such as throw pillows/scatter cushions, there are some wonderful products that make great gift ideas. Magnets, stickers, phone cases, scarves, aprons, clocks and much more. There is something for all tastes and budgets.

Before you go

My name is Dorothy Berry-Lound an artist and writer. You can find out more about my art and writing at https://dorothyberryloundart.com.

You can follow me on Facebook.

Thank you for reading!