After my degree in multi disciplinary design back in the 80’s I became a children’s illustrator, which i still do and love it. Around 12 years ago I went on a one day willow sculpting course and fell in love with willow.
The flow and weave that only willow can achieve is just beautiful to me, enabling me to create muscle tone and textures in my sculptures.
After many years of doing sculptures much like other sculptors out there i decided quite organically, to move more into colours and also to occassionally use fabrics, glass eyes and recycled metals etc… in my work.
Depending on the client I’ll introduce these elements- though obviously many people want just the traditional willow and that’s fine by me too!
So I work mostly to commission, not really having the space to keep whole herds of deer in my garden or sheds, so that each peice is made entirely new according to what the client wants.
All outdoor sculptures are made on a steel frame with the rods having enough extra on the bottom of legs to go into the ground of the garden/park etc… to create a firm and secure footing. Then I weave the willow into the frame and over it to become as dense as possible and to play with the willow to the make muscletone shine through. I like to make my sculptures as animated as possible and so I alays ask the client what position they would like the sculpture to be in.
Indoor sculptures like the trophy heads are made entirely of willow, so that they are as light as possible.