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Losing sense of time
The feeling of time is a very subjective thing – time of course is a construction and it seems natural that we would all perceive it differently. At times even not to be aware of it. It happens regularly to me, in fact possibly every time I come into the workshop – I […]
Sizing up stone
I love visiting the quarry and hunting round for blocks of stone which are suitable for my sculpture. The stone block has to be the right quality, and have the right appeal, but also be the right size of course – well, roughly the right size. It is very rare that a block of raw […]
A moorland sort of bird
To be more precise, a Partridge. I’ve agonised rather about actually giving this sculpture, carved in Yorkstone, the name Partridge – because it didn’t quite develop a partridgy enough look. Other birds kept creeping in during the carving, which I seemed unable to chase away. Sometimes carvings don’t always go as planned, sometimes the stone has a […]
Handling with care
Blocks of stone for sculpture are moved and handled with care.
The Eclipse excited some
The light was extraordinary, casting long shadows and strange hues. I’ve never seen an eclipse before. There were sort of rainbows in the clouds too – at least through the camera! I was trying to capture it all, which was made very difficult by certain people who got all excited, gathering round my feet […]
Potted Cowslip
The hedgerow here is greening, and cowslips push their clusters of curled lush leaves upward in vibrant wrinkly fronds. They’re promising slender delicate stems abundant with pale yellow flowers. Since early times cowslip has been cultivated in the British Isles and was popular in medieval herb gardens – having magical and medicinal properties. Farmers […]
Mottled Green Diver
Divers are a small family of large water birds with three species regularly seen in the UK – Black Throated, Red Throated and Great Northern Diver. The Mottled Green is rarer! All have long, slender bodies, moderately long necks and dagger-shaped bills, narrow wings and small legs (with long, lobed toes) set far back on […]
The wonderful tree bore tiny lambs
All day I’ve been popping my head out of the workshop to see that everything is okay, the plaintive bleating makes me concerned. The sheep in the neighbouring field are lambing. I saw twins born first thing. As soon as they could stand they wobbled over to the trunk of the nearest tree and […]
Dust Monkey
A few years ago whilst exhibiting at Art in Action at Waterperry House I visited the woodcarving marquee. One of the craftsmen was carving oak – a beautiful run of oak leaves and acorns – so I went over for a closer look and to ask questions. Anyway, I ended up having a go – I was surprised by […]
Mushrooms and Maintenance
This little row shows the growth progress of ‘mushrooms’ on the heads of my chisels. Which raises the mushroom question – that is when to maintain chisels which inevitably become ‘mushroomed’ at the head due to use. Some would be appalled to see these, in that they show total disregard to good housekeeping, or should […]