Workshop

In the Workshop today – Birds wait

  Birds wait in the winter landscape for me to finish their birdbath, and fill it with water.   Here’s one of them on a fence post at the workshop, watching the sun rise as I chisel away inside. They waited patiently for their water until I delivered the birdbath to its new home and we […]

Carving Yorkshire Dialect Words

  Actually it is a house name – but the word has its origin in Old Norse.  I’m carving Old Hall Laithe, for Kilnsey Park Estate. The word Laithe means ‘a dwelling with other farm buildings, including a barn, as a single structural unit, with separate entrances for human and livestock areas’ – or has […]

My Supporters and Collaborators

  Sometimes weeks and months can go by without me really noticing.  I’m concentrating, making, carving, deliberately quiet, thoughtful.  Today on my walk to the workshop the sun was warm, despite a deeply frosty night and it gave me the sense of feeling very open and awake.  I collected some little stems from the hedgerow […]

So it doesn’t go to waste

  Sometimes there are mishaps in the workshop.  Sometimes things don’t go right and mistakes and breakages happen.  Usually it is because I’m rushing or getting ahead of myself in the excitement of making.  Or perhaps I don’t know a stone well enough or don’t respect it enough. Of course it sometimes happens because of […]

In the Workshop today – carving triangles

  These little simple shapes – I’m just carving triangles – when repeated, grouped, and wandering, magically make patterns.   I adore the way they catch the light and the stone surface comes alive. The triangles span out, as they spread they look like stars. But, actually the idea is that they will indicate scales.   I’m […]

A little film of me at the workshop

  Land of Iron – Filming for North York Moors Earlier in the year I was contacted by Fuzzy Duck Creative, a creative studio in Manchester.  They were working with the North York Moors on a new visitor video to be shown at the Moors National Park Centre.  The idea was to share with visitors […]

In the Workshop today – Turtle Doves

  Said to represent innocence, purity and enduring love, Turtle Dove lore in deeply notched into our minds – seen in art, poetry, Shakespeare, Egyptian carvings, they were even said to draw the heavenly chariot of Aphrodite herself! The name seems strange doesn’t it, but they’re not in any way related to turtles, these doves […]

Owl Awareness Day

  International Owl Awareness Day was actually on Sunday (4th August, 2019) – but I’m celebrating today as this morning there were traces (lime splatter) that an owl had been present in the shed overnight.  The find fires my imagination. This year the Kestrels nested in the box, and I haven’t seen much evidence of […]

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 […]

Breaking stone – in a good way!

  Mostly when I go to the quarry for a block of stone, there isn’t a piece just the size I’m looking for.  This means either I compromise and make smaller than originally intended, or I get a larger block and trim off when I get back to the workshop. My aim is usually to […]