Blog
Stretching Rabbit Sculpture
After the meadow next to my workshop was cut, I watched rabbits enjoying the stubble and rows of hay. They collected mouthfulls of the drying grass, pawing and digging through it for particular strands to carry off. The geese hiss at them coming through the fence with their bounty – there’s stamping of hind […]
A slither of swallow
Well actually a slither of slate carved into a swallow – though this is the shape I see as they fly past my head and into the shed to their nest on the rafter. Yesterday I heard the faintest chirp, more like a wheeze, and eventually discovered the source. A tiny, wobbly, thin-necked, fresh-hatched […]
I love having stone in stock
Today I took delivery of a pallet full of Hazeldean Sandstone from Hutton Stone – a couple of the blocks are for sculpture I’ve been commissioned to carve, and the rest will go into stock. I’m absolutely thrilled with the markings in these pieces! I love the feeling of being surrounded by stone – […]
Windswept
Feeling much like this today!
In the workshop – carving rabbit
Progress of my rabbit sculpture in sandstone – I love the way that rabbits stretch themselves out, bottoms in the air, yawning, pulling and flexing after a sleep. It is so often followed by washing, tidying and thorough grooming before setting off for the best, freshest new grass shoots.
Harvestman Stone
Pulling a slab of stone away from this block revealed an army of Harvestmen. It doesn’t seem to be known why they congregate in such huge numbers – but there they were, tangling and falling over each other as they scurried out of my way. Though they look very much like spiders, having eight […]
Sunny Bank Mills Gallery
Sunny Bank Mills in Farsley, near Leeds was originally founded by a group of local clothiers in 1829 when they invested together to purchase land and build a woollen scribbling (combing and carding) and fulling (scouring and milling) mill. It has quite a history – in 1882 the majority share-holder Edwin Woodhouse became the […]
Common Red and Golden Ringed
The summer heat over the weekend brought out a mass of insects at the workshop – my bramble full of butterflies and bees and the grass stems alive with flying and crawling things. A dragonfly bumped into me – I was startled as it hit me quite hard on the head, followed by […]
By Hand in Masham
What a lovely day on Sunday – I arrived early at Masham Town Hall to set up at the Crafted by Hand event to be met by a band of volunteer helpers who carried boxes full of stone pieces and my plinths to my stand. The sun shone and it was busy, visitors flowed […]
Stone Carving Workshop
On Saturday I was at the Dales Countryside Museum in Hawes running a stone carving workshop. It is lovely to see when someone starts to get the feel of the mallet and chisel, and gains confidence with their carving. I saw lots of this from nervous starters, imagining they would damage the stone, […]