Garden

Garden Birds

  All the to-ings and fro-ings, flitterings, flutterings, and fledglings of garden birds has been something to behold. I’m trying not to anthropomorphize as I watch the stories of these bird families unfold.  Nature is urgent and intense, survival urgent, and reproduction urgent. The strength and vigour of these cycles are captivating and potent.  I […]

Summer Begins

  What a day to fledge – as if in celebration of the summer solstice  – my Pied Wagtail chicks at the workshop flew the nest into a gloriously warm, sunny day.  Everywhere I turned there seemed to be a startled, calling, fresh-feathered fledgling. Though they are still demanding of their parents for food, I […]

A bird who likes roses

  The hedgerows at the moment are bursting with wild roses.  I think they’re Dog Rose – familiar for scrambling and climbing with five large pink or white petals, many stamens and a faint sweet smell.  One grew at the base of my Sycamore tree and now it reaches up into the branches and tumbles […]

Contemporary Bird Sculpture

    From what bird’s flawless design, I do not know, but oh – its simple, quiet elegance.       Inspiration from the natural world – Jaggy Tailed Bird  sculpture- Sandstone – 9″ x 4″ x 7″ Shop Jaggy Tailed Bird        

Rustic Birdlets

  Every band, line, swirl and mark combine to enliven and make each bird unique.  These Birdlets are plain and simple in style, each carved from a solid piece of colourful Yorkstone with distinctive natural iron ore elements running through.  Birdlets are contemporary in feel with a rustic beauty. When visiting the quarry I select […]

Bursts of Spring

    The hedgerows are changing, hints of the first fresh green growth, buds just bursting with brave new leaf.  All around I’m noticing a difference – this morning is bright sunshine after an icy, frosty start and the celandines have already opened their glossy yellow petals. Honeysuckle leaves push forward at every junction of […]

Watermark Gallery in Harrogate

    Yesterday I delivered a small collection of stone pieces to the Watermark Gallery in Harrogate, just in time for a celebration of their opening in the evening. It was a delight to meet owner Liz Hawkes and see her new gallery.  Liz is so knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the art and sculptural pieces […]

Colourful Little Birds

  More Little Birds.  This time the Little Bird sculptures are full of colour, courtesy minerals deposited in the sediment which formed the stone, namely iron oxide. These bands of rich, rust colouring really add some special character to these small sculptures. As I was carving these two I began to wonder who carved the […]

Yellow Bird

  During the Big Garden Birdwatch 2020 I was reminded of Lines Written in Early Spring by William Wordsworth.  I couldn’t remember it all, but do recall The birds around me hopped and played, Their thoughts I cannot measure:- But the least motion which they made It seemed a thrill of pleasure. And so it […]

In the Workshop today – Little Bird

  Around the workshop a restless Wren is busy darting about, and when the door is open comes in to check for lacewings and spiders to feed on.   Although they’re highly territorial birds, during winter months, and especially when it is bitterly cold, they roost together, several dozen huddled together for warmth.  It’s lovely to […]