Blog
Handling with care
Blocks of stone for sculpture are moved and handled with care.
The Eclipse excited some
The light was extraordinary, casting long shadows and strange hues. I’ve never seen an eclipse before. There were sort of rainbows in the clouds too – at least through the camera! I was trying to capture it all, which was made very difficult by certain people who got all excited, gathering round my feet […]
Potted Cowslip
The hedgerow here is greening, and cowslips push their clusters of curled lush leaves upward in vibrant wrinkly fronds. They’re promising slender delicate stems abundant with pale yellow flowers. Since early times cowslip has been cultivated in the British Isles and was popular in medieval herb gardens – having magical and medicinal properties. Farmers […]
Mottled Green Diver
Divers are a small family of large water birds with three species regularly seen in the UK – Black Throated, Red Throated and Great Northern Diver. The Mottled Green is rarer! All have long, slender bodies, moderately long necks and dagger-shaped bills, narrow wings and small legs (with long, lobed toes) set far back on […]
The wonderful tree bore tiny lambs
All day I’ve been popping my head out of the workshop to see that everything is okay, the plaintive bleating makes me concerned. The sheep in the neighbouring field are lambing. I saw twins born first thing. As soon as they could stand they wobbled over to the trunk of the nearest tree and […]
Dust Monkey
A few years ago whilst exhibiting at Art in Action at Waterperry House I visited the woodcarving marquee. One of the craftsmen was carving oak – a beautiful run of oak leaves and acorns – so I went over for a closer look and to ask questions. Anyway, I ended up having a go – I was surprised by […]
Mushrooms and Maintenance
This little row shows the growth progress of ‘mushrooms’ on the heads of my chisels. Which raises the mushroom question – that is when to maintain chisels which inevitably become ‘mushroomed’ at the head due to use. Some would be appalled to see these, in that they show total disregard to good housekeeping, or should […]
Feeling Cornish
Recently I met my mother for lunch and we spent a cherishable afternoon, chatting, laughing and enjoying memories – my mother is lovely company. I’m not sure how we came to it, but I learned that I was conceived in Cornwall. My parents had planned a holiday there as a bit of a break, shortly after […]
Back to a Land
Opening tomorrow at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park – 7th March, 2015 – is an exhibition called Back to a Land – this is work by Henry Moore with a focus on showing his drawings, prints and sculpture which were inspired by his love of landscape and the rocks and earth that make it. His […]
Little Owl Sculpture
This is the first time I’ve carved Ancaster Weatherbed stone. This piece was so beautifully flecked grey and brown that I thought it perfect to suggest the feather colouring of a Little Owl. I’ve worked Ancaster limestone before, but that was the stone the quarry describes as Hard White. Within the beds (the layers […]