Blog
In the workshop – carving rabbit
Progress of my rabbit sculpture in sandstone – I love the way that rabbits stretch themselves out, bottoms in the air, yawning, pulling and flexing after a sleep. It is so often followed by washing, tidying and thorough grooming before setting off for the best, freshest new grass shoots.
Harvestman Stone
Pulling a slab of stone away from this block revealed an army of Harvestmen. It doesn’t seem to be known why they congregate in such huge numbers – but there they were, tangling and falling over each other as they scurried out of my way. Though they look very much like spiders, having eight […]
Sunny Bank Mills Gallery
Sunny Bank Mills in Farsley, near Leeds was originally founded by a group of local clothiers in 1829 when they invested together to purchase land and build a woollen scribbling (combing and carding) and fulling (scouring and milling) mill. It has quite a history – in 1882 the majority share-holder Edwin Woodhouse became the […]
Common Red and Golden Ringed
The summer heat over the weekend brought out a mass of insects at the workshop – my bramble full of butterflies and bees and the grass stems alive with flying and crawling things. A dragonfly bumped into me – I was startled as it hit me quite hard on the head, followed by […]
By Hand in Masham
What a lovely day on Sunday – I arrived early at Masham Town Hall to set up at the Crafted by Hand event to be met by a band of volunteer helpers who carried boxes full of stone pieces and my plinths to my stand. The sun shone and it was busy, visitors flowed […]
Stone Carving Workshop
On Saturday I was at the Dales Countryside Museum in Hawes running a stone carving workshop. It is lovely to see when someone starts to get the feel of the mallet and chisel, and gains confidence with their carving. I saw lots of this from nervous starters, imagining they would damage the stone, […]
Dove Sculpture
The Dove sculpture I’ve been working on is now finished. I’ve spent many hours of sanding and polishing to remove any tool marks visible and leave the stone surface as clean and pure as I can. Alabaster is so inherently beautiful in terms of depth and richness of colour, veining and patterns that polishing […]
Domboshawa Bird
Domboshawa is a village north of Harare, Zimbabwe. The village is named after a large granite hill near the village and there are several rock formations at the top of the hill which have been created by natural erosion. One of these ‘balancing’ rocks is known as The Whale, because of its whale like […]
Crafted by Hand in Masham
This weekend, on Sunday 2 July, I’m exhibiting at Crafted by Hand in Masham. The event is held between 10 am and 4 pm in the Town Hall in the centre of Masham, where there will be around 40 stalls, including jewellery, ceramics, glass, sculpture and printmaking. The theme for the event this year […]
Dove Sculpture in progress
At the moment I’m making Dove shapes in Alabaster. I love the curves and contentedness of resting birds, the softness and calm. Alabaster I think is a good stone to convey this – allowing light, but not in detailed shapes, to pass through. Dove form diffused.