Blog
I met an owl in the lane
It surprised us both I think! At the start of darkness, the night just beginning, out of the flickering dusk an owl takes flight, stares at the tussocks and glides up over the hedge and is only yards from me in the lane. It zig-zags away, startled. The Barn Owl reappears a field away, […]
Carving Yorkshire Dialect Words
Actually it is a house name – but the word has its origin in Old Norse. I’m carving Old Hall Laithe, for Kilnsey Park Estate. The word Laithe means ‘a dwelling with other farm buildings, including a barn, as a single structural unit, with separate entrances for human and livestock areas’ – or has […]
Autumnal stroll
We’re almost in the middle of November and the darker mornings and evenings really are making a difference now. As we slide into winter, nature presents a varying palette of golds, tawny browns, oranges and reds, shifting every day and inspiring anew. I notice I’m drawn to stones with rich, seasonal colouring, how magnificent […]
My Supporters and Collaborators
Sometimes weeks and months can go by without me really noticing. I’m concentrating, making, carving, deliberately quiet, thoughtful. Today on my walk to the workshop the sun was warm, despite a deeply frosty night and it gave me the sense of feeling very open and awake. I collected some little stems from the hedgerow […]
Stone Carving Courses – dates for 2020
I’ve tried my best to fit dates in, but I can’t squeeze any more days into the month, and now confirm that there won’t be any Stone Carving Courses here in 2020. It wasn’t an easy decision to make, and I’ve given it a lot thought, but I’m going to be busy with commissioned […]
Stone Sculpture Talk
The Sinnington People’s Guild invited me to give a talk at their meeting, so yesterday evening I went to the Methodist Schoolroom where they have their Tuesday gatherings. Sinnington is a nearby North Yorkshire village. The village name originates from Medieval times and was known as ‘settlement on the Seven’ after the river which […]
Wernicke
A bird flew into the house, it was a bit panicked and flapping when it saw me. I stayed still and it flew to the bookcase and perched there. I tried to usher it back out, but each time it flew past the wide open window and back round to the top of the […]
Fossily Bird
Fossily Bird sculpture is carved in Swaledale Fossil limestone. The stone contains an abundance of fossils and fossil traces which are really brought out clearly when the stone is polished. As might be expected Swaledale Fossil comes from Swaledale, a North Yorkshire dale on the River Swale. It is a typical limestone valley, the […]
So it doesn’t go to waste
Sometimes there are mishaps in the workshop. Sometimes things don’t go right and mistakes and breakages happen. Usually it is because I’m rushing or getting ahead of myself in the excitement of making. Or perhaps I don’t know a stone well enough or don’t respect it enough. Of course it sometimes happens because of […]
Wildlife Art
On Thursday this week the Society of Wildlife Artists annual exhibition The Natural Eye 2019 opens at the Mall Galleries – paintings, drawings, original prints and sculpture all inspired by the natural world. It is always a thrill to go, and truly inspiring for me. I’ll tell you all about it after I’ve been, […]