Sculpture
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 […]
Inside Outside – Yorkshire Sculpture Park
The Yorkshire Sculpture Park is always a place I enjoy exploring and spending time, but I haven’t been for ages. Yesterday, in the glorious October sunshine, I made an impromptu brief visit. The parkland looked magnificent, and so did the sculpture. Of course I was bound to be drawn to Sean Scully’s exhibition Inside […]
When I’m ready to riffel
When I’m ready to riffel, I go to the riffler jar. Here I keep these rather special little tools – they are narrow and elongated with a curved file surface at each end – used for filing. Riffling is a most enjoyable process (it is a lovely word too – I think comes from […]
Barn Owl Sculpture
Over the last few months it has been busy with Barn Owls, I’ve seen them in flight quartering the fields and returning with food for youngsters, and more recently the new-fledged owlets making their first tentative explorations of the world beyond the nest box. Though these initial flights appear rather haphazard and ungainly, (suggesting […]
Carved Stones along the River Aire
Earlier in the year I worked with Arup, (an independent firm of designers, engineers, architects, planners, consultants and technical specialists in the built environment), to create a memorial walk along the River Aire in Leeds. They had seen a stone I’d carved previously and thought that something similar, scaled up, would suit the project. […]
York Minster Stone Carving Festival 2018
I decided in the end on my original insect idea – a bee, just landed on a flower. The first day saw plenty progress the shape roughly outlined, ready for day two detailing. I thought things hadn’t gone too badly, but was reminded of the pace required when I looked round to see […]
A showcase of carving skills at York Minster
The York Minster Stone Carving Festival 2018 is next weekend – 18th and 19th August. I’ve been thinking for ages what I might carve during the two days. The theme is ‘All Creatures Great and Small’, and months ago I decided on an insect of some sort, but have changed my mind many times […]
A Mole and a Mole Sculpture
A feverishly digging mole, scraping at the damp silt and shifting stones and pebbles in its path. I watched it for many moments, but it heard me and vanished down a hole in the bank. It moved surprisingly quickly. The little beck that runs down past my workshop has completely dried up. I’ve […]
One day I’ll carve a goose sculpture
Just the other day a customer asked me if I had ever carved a goose sculpture and I had to reply that I hadn’t, though I really have meant to for many years. I’ve said ‘one day I will’ too often. For anyone who knows me I won’t need to explain, but I’m […]
A Sketchbook – unfettering ideas
When I saw the pencil and crayon drawings they gave me goose-bumps – these were preparatory sketches by Eric Gill, Gaudier-Brzeska and Epstein whose work was brought together in the exhibition Wild Things at the Royal Academy some years ago. Being up close to these studies felt intimate, a glimpse into the genius of […]