Blog
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 […]
Frosty Start
A frosty, foggy start this morning – stone in the workshop was cold to handle and chisels icy. In no time though the sun had burned through and I was shedding layers and working outside. The roof of the workshed steamed. Everything looks magic on mornings like this.
Nature Table
On Sunday I set out for a walk – just locally. The forecast for the following few days was for terrible storms, torrential rain and gusting winds, and I thought I had better make the most of the fine afternoon. It is ages since I took to the pathways and lanes that circle the […]
Exhibition Review by Sue Gough
I’m having a small celebration here as my exhibition at the Ryedale Folk Museum, The Museum as Muse has just got a review. It is penned by Sue Gough, who is Chair of Ryedale Artworks and a full-time artist herself. You can read it over on her blog. It is important to me – […]