Bronze Hare Sundial at RHS Chelsea Flower Show- Update, 6th June 2008

The sundial made it to Jekka's garden at Chelsea..and more importantly the garden won a gold medal! So a huge congratulations to Jekka McVicar for a wonderful display. The hare nestled amongst her vibrant herbs and looked perfectly at home. If you didn't get a chance to see it at Chelsea, Jekka will be building another garden at 'Art in Action' with the hare sundial as a centre piece. I will also be showing new sculptures and prints as well as demonstrating how some of my sculptures are made.

Havergate Island Project - 10th May 2008

I have just returned from a week on a island off the Suffolk coast. Owned by the RSPB, Havergate Island is a short boat ride from Orford. Access is normally quite limited (details here) , but through an arrangement with the RSPB I was able to spend two weeks resident on the island, the first week was at the start of April. The 4 mile long reserve is home to a wide variety of birds such as godwit, gulls, oystercatcher, plovers and avocets- as well as a relatively tame population of hares. I spent my days drawing and painting and enjoying the solitude (yes, I was all alone on the island!) Many of the images made during the two weeks will become prints which of course will be available through this site. The work will also be shown at RSPB Minsmere, date to be announced. My grateful thanks to all at the RSPB who made this project possible.

Bronze Hare Sundial - Update, 10th May 2008

He is now finished! Joanna had finished the engraving on the dial as well as the fitting to the hare sculpture. The dial itself is very beautiful, simply cut Roman Numerals but elegantly and cleanly executed. Given that the two elements were made by different people and apart from each other they work extremely well together. Joanna Migdal and myself were at Castle Fine Arts Foundry last week for the colour patination process. Once more the craftsmen there did a fine job colouring the sculpture in a wonderful warm range of ochres, tans and whites. The sculptures first public appearence will now be at RHS Chelsea Flower Show on the 20th May. If you don't manage to make it there it can be seen at Art in Action, 17th - 20th July, where I will also be showing other work as well as demonstrating some of my making processes.

Bronze Hare Sundial - Update, March 2008

The hare has now been cast by the foundry Castle Fine Arts; and a beautiful job they have made of it! There is still much work to be done of course including chasing (working the metal itself with tools to regain any detail lost in the casting process) and patination. The sundial element is now being made, and this will be held in the hare's front paws. I'll post pictures of this as it is made.

Bronze Hare Sundial, January 2008

For the past few months I have been working with sundial and clock maker Joanna Migdal to make a bronze hare holding a sundial. The sculpture will eventually be 1 metre in height. At present it is with a foundry being cast up. It's first outing will be at Chelsea flower show in May 2008 in the show garden of herb grower and past gold medallist at the show, Jekka McVicar . I'll post further updates as the piece develops.

New Zealand, New Year 2007-8

A trip to New Zealand over Christmas and New Year gave me the chance to see some incredible new wildlife. I'm still sorting through the 3000 odd photographs I took, but I was fortunate enough to see albatross, shearwater, variable oystercatchers (all black, like the rugby team!), sperm whale, fur seals and many, many more. I'm sure they will gradually filter into the work very soon.

Isle of Tiree. August, 2007

Tiree is a small island off the west coast of Scotland. Our family holiday was spent here. An extraordinarily beautiful island it plays host to a wealth of wildlife, including seals, brown hare, numerous meadow and rock pipit, wheaters, hen harrier, peregrines and many, many, more. The island has a very vibrant light that intensifies colour, I would like to bring some of this into new sculptures, quite how, remains to be seen!

So its back to work - Tiree inspired sculptures for the show at The Bircham Gallery in North Norfolk, this November.

Art in Action July, 2007

It was very good to meet old friends and make new ones at this annual arts festival. So much good work was on display, and I am sure I didn't get to see it all. The level of organisation as always was excellent, with the people of Waterperry Gardens looking after exhibitors and demonstrators so very well.

This was particularly remarkable because of the weather. On the Friday of the event Oxfordshire had it's heaviest rainfall in 40 years; it began raining at 5.00am and didn't let up until 1.00pm, and this was very heavy rain. We later learnt of serious flooding in the county and beyond. The site very quickly became extremely muddy, with several areas flooding. 'Art in Action' staff sprang to action with straw for muddy areas and in severe cases even helping to relocate some exhibitors to less wet areas.

Ultimately we all survived, with a tale to tell - that we were at 'Art in Action in 2007' - in that rain!

Thank you to everyone who bought work, I hope you enjoy it. Anyone who ordered work at the show should receive it early next week (30th July onwards), it will all be posted 1st class on Monday 30th July.

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