Blog
Calm after the storm
We seem to have got away with it quite lightly here – though the tin roofs of the workshop were well rattled! Happily they stayed in place. Today by comparison is beautiful and I’m working outside on a piece I started some months ago – commissions, orders and my exhibition meant I had to […]
Can I sculpt the sky?
Sometimes all the conditions contrive to make the start to the day feel incredibly good. This is one such morning – frost, mist, and cloud burst through with a gold and copper sun. It made me stand still and look – feeling awe. This is the view from my workshop, if I take a […]
A Water Vole called Plop
My Water Vole sculpture was inspired by encouraging news from a number of Water Voles re-introduction programmes, where there is evidence of thriving colonies, and some waterways where this elusive mammal has gained a stronghold. Regular monitoring of these also suggests that the species remains vulnerable to further decline and extinctions. Long-term habitat loss, […]
The Serpentine Gallery
Whenever I think of the Serpentine Gallery – I think of the beautiful colours and patterning found in Serpentine stone, and the texture of it polished and the feel of it as it is carved. A gallery full of carved Serpentine sculpture. But actually the gallery is what used to be a Tea Room […]
Cut flowers for the house
Cut Cardoon to be accurate, and these flower heads never seemed to actually flower. Maybe this variety is not supposed to, but I had waited and waited for tufts of colour or thistle type petals to emerge, but they never did. Cutting was a tough job even for my secateurs! However, what beautiful heads […]
Guidance for Mentoring Artists
I’ve just been on the most amazing day course – it was organised through Ryedale Artworks – my local arts group, to offer training for members who felt they might be able to offer mentoring to other members. RAW had identified areas where members were looking to learn new skills, needed help, or wished […]
Two for Joy
Recently, in exploring ideas about collecting, and whether this was a natural instinct in us – I thought about the Magpie and its reputation for collecting – or stealing – bright objects. Indeed, all of nature and all the animals for whom collecting is essential to survival. It is often seen in caches […]
Ten Thousand Poppies
My poppy this year joined these ten thousand poppies, which are in my village Church – a monument called Trench – by artist Martin Waters. A poppy trench has been installed in the nine hundred year old crypt of St Mary’s Church in Lastingham. Martin started creating the poppy installations as an act of […]
Scraping my name from the wall
On Monday I took down my exhibition The Museum as Muse – it happened much more quickly than the time taken to set up! Soon I was trundling back to the workshop with my sculpture. It felt rather sad in a way, the vinyl lettering spelling my name and announcing the exhibition, scraped […]
Henry Moore’s Reclining Figure
While all the fires burned and fireworks dazzled on November 5th, there was serious business going on at the Impressionist and Modern sale at Christie’s New York. Henry Moore’s Reclining Figure came under the hammer and found a new home – selling for $6,101,000. This particular piece is in bronze, marked 2 of […]