Garden
Pretty Posies
Picking fresh flowers from the garden and bringing them into the house for display is a divinely simple pleasure. Arranging little posies, single buds, or a tangle of tumbling stems brings delight, and doesn’t it give such happy satisfaction? A touch of nature right by your side, on table, shelf, bedside .. oh, just […]
Mice are Nice
I agree with Rose Fyleman in her poem I think mice are rather nice; Their tails are long, their faces small; They haven’t any chins at all. Their ears are pink, their teeth are white, They run about the house at night, They nibble things they shouldn’t touch, and, no one seems to like […]
In the Workshop today – ferns
After carving Gold Leaf I’ve had many requests to carve similar pieces, with a variety of leaves, sprigs, flora and fauna. This one delicately describes the unfurling of fern fronds. Here I’m drawing onto the stone in preparation for carving, trying to get the very specific way ferns hold themselves to fit onto the […]
Botanical Sculpture – pod series
There’s nothing more I like than polishing a sculpture once all the surface sanding and preparation has been done. It is the moment when the colours and richness of the stone are revealed to surprise and astonish. For this pod I selected a serpentine stone, knowing it was green, but ultimately its true colours, […]
Plant Shapes
My foray into the extraordinary detail and beauty of plant shapes and seeds in particular continues – what remarkable tiny and exotic representations of nature they are. From the pod stem swells a bursting body, with lip, a curved edge as opening out of which the seed will disperse. This simple single pod, holding […]
The Beauty of Form in Nature
One of my favourite books is Nature as Designer – A Botanical Art Study by Bertel Bager. I have stared countless times at the astonishing photographs in the book and always thought how sculptural the fruits, flowers, seeds and cones appear. Each photograph is accompanied by a write-up about the plant in question, with fascinating […]
A Plain and Simple Stone Birdbath
How gorgeous it is to let the natural textures and colouring of this Yorkstone be the guide for the styling of this simple stone birdbath. I think it lends a homely, rustic feel with just enough chiselling to hollow out a bowl from which the birds can drink and bathe. A natural, understated feature […]
None-so-pretty
I absolutely love Saxifraga at this time of year (actually at any time of year!) – this one is urbium or commonly known as London Pride or None-so-pretty. It has to be adored for its mat-forming habit, with those full rosettes of simple lobed leaves and starry flowers on long leafless stems. Just now […]
RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2019
In previous years I’ve sketched the birds I’ve seen during the Big Garden Birdwatch survey. This time I thought I’d try and model them in clay instead, sculpt them directly during the hour watch. It is a wonderful challenge, requiring me to work very quickly, where normally I would be slow and meticulous to […]
The Nuthatch – a very endearing bird
Last year was a bit of a Nuthatch year for me. During the Big Garden Birdwatch at the beginning of 2017, it was the Nuthatch I sketched. Little did I know then that the pair at the feeders were to nest in my old Sycamore tree, and raise young, that year and last year […]