Sculpture
In the Workshop today – bird features
Carving started from a little line sketch, a brief scribble made some time ago. It is a thought, a ‘hardly there’ shape quickly jotted down so as not to forget the idea. Then, seeing it again, while looking for something else, it created excitement, and renewed thoughts and possibilities for it as a sculpture. […]
Whimbrel Sculpture
The Whimbrel is a large brown wading bird with a long down-curved bill which it uses to probe into wet sand for invertebrates such as crabs, walking slowly through areas where the water is very shallow. It is also partial to ground insects, slugs and snails. They are significantly vocal birds having a rippling […]
Stone Sculpture by the Lakes
Yesterday I packaged stone sculpture ready for transit to a new gallery, Sculpture by the Lakes, who will be representing me in 2020. Sculpture by the Lakes is a special and extraordinary venue stretching across the Dorset countryside, a place of beauty, restfulness and peace created by sculptor Simon Gudgeon and his wife […]
An Upside Down Bird for Glemham Hall
It is unusual to see a bird on its back reclining in this way – in nature they’re very vulnerable in this position. Sometimes you can see birds hanging upside down from a branch during feeding to get a better reach, where they’re cleverly agile and demonstrate extraordinary flexibility and grip. There is a […]
In the Workshop today – Fancy Birds
Perhaps it is the powerful twisty gusts of wind that has ruffled the tail feathers of these two. It has certainly brought me into the workshop to finish them, I’m sanding their surfaces smooth and the dust keeps blowing up in my eyes and I’m buffeted off-balance. Fancy Birds – for their resplendent showy-offy […]
Lean Bird
Sometimes I can’t say where my bird sculpture shapes come from, except they’re fashioned by an impulse, a sort of drive I let take charge. Lean Bird has these undefined origins … well, perhaps not quite. When I look at it now I recall at the beginning of January I saw a Heron fly […]
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 […]
Blackbird Sculpture
Every year a Blackbird couple nest in the hedge that runs along the north boundary of my workshop area. (They’re the ones who pinch all my Gooseberries!). On occasion a pair have nested in the sheds. I’ve noticed over the last week another Blackbird nearby running and bobbing in threat display, and singing to […]
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 […]