Blog
Quarry Beetles
Sometimes when I’m carving lumps of stone into sculpture, I find fossils – or sometimes I see them at the quarry. Usually they have been what look like plant stems, or seeds. This beetle fossil was revealed in a piece of stone from the Kent RIGS – it is a Cupedid. Cupedidae is a small […]
The Year in Books – January 2015
For a long time I have promised myself that I will read more, and I’ve managed it in small bursts , but never kept it up, so was really pleased recently to come across The Year in Books over at Circle of Pine Trees. The Year in Books is all about trying to ensure we make space for […]
Old Hushwing
This is the Barn Owl I’ve been telling you about, here, here and here! Last night I managed to get a picture of it, in my shed, appearing to look right at the camera! I can’t stop staring at it! Old Hushwing is a another country name for a Barn Owl, and how beautifully it describes […]
A Frost Feathered Happy New Year
I’m so delighted to see this lovely picture! I received it this morning from a customer, who bought my Fledglings sculpture, and this is a view of it in their beautiful garden- with all the little birds ‘frost feathered’. Looks as if we will see out the year all icy and frozen – but a […]
Sharing a shed with a Barn Owl
Each morning now when I get to the workshed I do a little search, to find out if my Barn Owl has spent time there overnight. Underneath the spot where it has been roosting are copious splatters – so I can tell exactly where it has been – along with the pellets and preened […]
Wintery Walk
This morning I set off for a walk up on the moors above my workshop. I often look out at those trees on the skyline from my sheds, and its lovely to see them from a different viewpoint, I think of them as rather protectively wrapping themselves around the workshop nestled below. They’re home […]
A Big Birdbath
I’ve been making a big Birdbath – certainly big for me, in fact I think it is the largest one I’ve ever carved. At just over 4 feet square, the top took quite a lot of chiseling out. Here I’m making the bowl shape which will be filled with water for the birds to splosh around in and […]
Moles are good swimmers
Generally moles dig their nest chambers well above water levels, so heavy rain and seasonal weather change doesn’t cause them concern. On the occasions when severe flooding occurs and their tunnels become submerged, moles are able to swim to higher ground and safety. They swim well, I suppose those great digging front feet make […]
Life Drawing Class – Geometric shapes
On Tuesday our life drawing lesson was to concentrate on geometric shapes. A lot of subjects can be simplified to geometric shapes, such as boxes, pyramids, cylinders, and spheres. Instead of starting with the large shapes on paper, you simplify your subject in 3-D. I was rather excited by this exercise and quickly got […]
Finding out what’s in the Barn Owl pellet
I teased apart the Barn Owl pellet and found numerous tiny bones, two skulls and three sets of lower jaw bones – all belonging to small mammals. There were leg bones, obvious ribs, scapula and pieces of the backbone. After pulling all the bones out, and separating them the best I could from the […]