Workshop
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 […]
New Year’s Eve celebrations
My geese join me in a little New Year’s Eve celebration at my workshop as the light fades on 2018. I’m tidying and putting things in order in readiness for a new year beginning. We sat until it was quite dark, remembering, reflecting, rejoicing and looking forward to bringing dreams and plans and sculpture […]
Feature in the Yorkshire Post Magazine
Chris Bond, Editor of the Yorkshire Post Magazine and photographer Gary Longbottom spent an afternoon here at my workshop exploring, chatting and taking images for a little feature they were proposing about me and my sculpture. Today it was published in the weekend Magazine – what a lovely way to round off my busy […]
A Loveliness of Ladybirds
As a result of the clocks going back I discover that the collective name for Ladybirds (Ladybugs, Ladybeetles) is a Loveliness. A Loveliness I’m sure I should have known this, it seems so obvious now! And perfect! I clambered up into the rafters at the workshop to alter the clock hands, back one […]
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 […]
In the Workshop today – lettercutting
It is fascinating delving into the history of a property, discovering a building’s past. It can come from a simple find in the loft, or behind a wall covering, tucked under a skirting or floorboard, which sparks further investigation or come from dedicated research into the construction and architectural history. I’ve been working on […]
Seasonal Stone
Stone flushed with Autumn colour. I’m collecting these hips, there are lots. It is a wild rose, it grew from seed (delivered by a bird, by the wind, on animal fur?) on a path leading to my stone store shed, and which makes me stoop and squeeze sideways every time I go past. It […]
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 […]
In the Workshop today – damselfly
Work in progress on a Banded Demoiselle carving in sandstone. The sun shone into the workshop in slivers, landing on the stone, as if come to warm up my work. Damselflies love to bask in sunshine and can often be seen sunbathing in the early morning on a stalk, rock pile or bare […]
Fog and Fox
Still blanketed in fog here, as earlier in the week – but today feels so different. I’ve shut out the damp, cloudy feeling and I’m getting close and personal with a fox. I’m thinking of Jim Crumley and his book Encounters in the Wild – Fox as he writes so exceptionally about meeting […]