Blog
Little by Little
….. chip by chip
The White Fox Gallery
This is White Fox – it’s a little piece I carved to celebrate my forthcoming exhibition at the White Fox Gallery. I’ll be showing work as a guest artist, alongside another stone carver Natasha Smith, whose work is also inspired by the natural world, following themes such as shells, leaves, insects, clouds, fossils and hollows – I’m […]
For smooth curves
Abrade, repeat – abrade, repeat, repeat, repeat ….. To achieve smooth curves and clean lines in stone (which I like in my sculpture), I need abrasives. Lots of them, and lots of elbow-grease. After the chiseling, and filing, the surface still has marks, and these need to be sanded away. My hand feels the […]
Weathervanes and Wellingtons
As I walked past this weathervane recently it was getting quite a battering from the wind, spinning and jittering left and right, undecided, buffeted into whining as old metal does. It made me think about how it actually worked – the compass points were correct, but I wasn’t sure about the other bit. Weathervanes have a […]
Snow Stones
Snow fall and we’re covered in white. The blanket layer envelopes, hushes and quietens – the inside of my workshed contains all my movements, thoughts, breaths – held by the covering, temporarily pocketed, educating by their shapes. Heightened senses. Soft white, smooth white, hard white, cold white, textured white, stone white – silent white. […]
Stanza Stones
It was lovely to see the Stanza Stones featured on Countryfile – what a special collaboration this is between Yorkshire poet Simon Armitage and the Ilkley Literature Festival. The project was devised to get people into the landscape and inspired to write. Six poems were carved into the rock along the trail that takes in the some […]
A Year in Books – February 2015
The book I selected in January – Lost Animals by Errol Fuller – was a bit harrowing, which I expected (given the subject matter), but I was a little bit disappointed too. I wanted to know more about the selected birds and animals – perhaps it is a good thing it left me wanting […]
A bit of micro-gardening
Sleety, snowy, windy cold drove me indoors from the workshop early today – I promised myself that I would give the greenhouse a bit of a cleanup this weekend too, but it will have to be tomorrow now. I haven’t abandoned the gardening idea entirely though. These little pots have been sitting empty on a […]
Birds in my Garden
It seemed very quiet during my Big Garden Birdwatch, the Great Tit and Blue Tit were most numerous. A few of my regular visitors didn’t show at all. When making a concentrated effort to watch wildlife, I always think something incredible or unusual will occur – perhaps I will encounter something never before witnessed, or discover a new […]
Letters cut in stone
A call came through last week from a customer who asked if I could add some lettering to the Birdbath they had ordered. I love to be part of making something special, personal and individual in this way, so was glad to agree. I think it makes a lovely marker for a point in time and […]