Blog
Nature’s favourite shape
Is the hexagon nature’s favourite shape? I keep seeing it, and the more I look, the more the six sides jump out at me. It is quite a satisfying, solid shape – a stable shape. The Giant’s Causeway, honeycomb, tortoise or turtle shell, snowflake, flower shapes, poppy seeds – there are lots more examples. […]
The Story of Star Carr
Last night I joined the Appleton History Group for one of their evening talks given by Professor Nicky Milner from York University. Star Carr: An early Mesolithic site at Seamer, near Scarborough Star Carr is a Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) archaeological site, dating to around 9000 BC, just centuries after the end of the […]
Red Bird
These little treasures of red pebbles and my other thoughts on red stone recently, have inspired me to carve a piece of red sandstone that I had in the workshop. It was a slim slither of quite course grained stone, with areas of differing textures and it somehow became a bird – Red Bird. […]
Big Garden Birdwatch 2017
The sun came out for my birdwatch, after days of cold grey. The bird sound is spring-like. Spotting and recording the birds is the easy bit – I hope to sketch them as I see them during my count, which I find is quite a challenge. Particularly the Nuthatch as it sneaks off behind […]
Not a befuddled fog
A beautiful stone sits solid and quiet in a thick cloud of tiny water droplets.
RyeScape
Ryedale is my dale. Ryedale being the area in North Yorkshire where I live and work. I’m so fortunate in this, as Ryedale District Council are doing lots of exciting things for their artists and we have a remarkable Creative Economy Officer, Yvette Turnbull whose enthusiasm for and nurturing of creatives is infectious […]
Earthy Oxides
These tones come straight from a glowing summer sunset, or a fiery brick kiln. The presence of iron-oxide on the stone’s outer surface is responsible for this hot amber blush. The drama and excitement of it is perhaps heightened by the calm, palest creamy-white serpentine stone, which is the solid inner of this block. […]
Crow Country
Most days they are my background sound, and sometimes I stop, sit, and take time to watch their flapping rise, fall and curving in the sky above the line of trees which form the view from my workshop. Occasionally lone birds will caw and rattle at me from their perch at the top […]
Honing and Kibbling
Once I’ve carved my sculpture the surface can be ‘dressed’ to give textures and finishes, and there are many different surfaces I can create. Any finish given will alter the percieved colour of a stone, so I think about this when deciding. You can see the difference in the little samples above, they’re both […]
My favourite symbol
Most of us I think like to set off on little expeditions to seek out the new or adventure close to home. Walking explorations nearby are my favourites. I like to get the map out and plan a little route, usually there are features marked – old workings, a monument – I like to […]