Blog
Owl Sculpture – carving progress
My owl sculpture is beginning to take shape – from the initial drawing on the stone I carved out the rough shape and it is now ready to have some detail and refining. It is when the owl’s real character will emerge and when I make sense of the irregular surface, carve in the […]
North Yorkshire Open Studios 2017 Brochure
We’re just eight weeks away from the start of North Yorkshire Open Studios 2017. (That’s come round quickly!) On Wednesday I went to a meeting at the Milton Rooms, in Malton held by the NYOS17 organisers to collect the printed publicity material, brochures, posters, signage and to get all the information about the […]
Flutter in Flowers
The time of the singing of the birds is come, and flowers appear. When I was carving this sculpture, which I call Flutter, I thought of it being in a garden surrounded by spring flowers. Flutter sculpture in Tadcaster Limestone – details in my brochure.
Preview night – RyeScape Exhibition
After all the preparation it is a lovely thing to have a busy Preview night. Ryedale Folk Museum created a warm and welcoming entrance to the Gallery, serving refreshments and nibbles to the stream of visitors. The Gallery looked lovely with the selected works by artists living and working in Ryedale. […]
Guiding lines to help me on my way
In the workshop today – I’m beginning an owl sculpture. Before I start carving into the block of stone I quickly sketch an outline of my idea – the drawn lines act as a guide so I don’t take off stone where I shouldn’t! I’ll keep you updated as I go along.
Chisels for Cutting Letters in Stone
New chisels arrived at the workshop today, looking very smart in their own canvas tool roll. Actually I’m quite pleased with this, as I want to keep these chisels just for lettering stone and it holds them safe from being chinked together, and the cutting edges protected against knocks. Previously I’ve carved sculpture and […]
Westonbirt Weekend – Gardens Illustrated Festival
At the weekend I exhibited at the Gardens Illustrated Festival held at Westonbirt School, Tetbury in the heart of the Cotswolds. It was dark by the time I arrived to set up, but there was lots of activity in the marquee which was flood-lit and festooned in bunting with all the spaces marked out […]
Recumbent Rabbit
There are four favoured digging spots for the rabbits at my workshop, each showing regular fresh excavation and soil scattering. One is behind the greenhouse and leads under the hedgerow, another (shallow) is at my bonfire site, a third at the corner of, and into, my stone store shed, and the last out in […]
Spring Begins
To celebrate the beginning of Spring today I’ve cut a few stems of flowering currant from the garden and brought them indoors. I’m cheered and envigorated by the fresh new growth, and they smell gorgeous. Simple stone mini pot is now in the shop.
Ground Bird
I’ve been watching ground feeding birds, it astonishes me how acute their vision is and how quickly they peck up tasty morsels. There have been lots of blackbirds feeding in wet ground nearby, pulling worms – they sort of bird prance about, looking with focused intent, then dart forward head down, wings hunched, tugging […]