Seagull

 
Quite simple for a change, in this sculpture I've used a broken axe for the tail, two scythe blades for the wings and the mainshaft gear cluster from a tractor as the body

Peacock

 
Something diferent, the only constraint for this piece was that it had to fit into an already fully loaded car en route to England!

Armiliary Globe

 
A small sundial made from a cartwheel rim and two similar sized barrel rings.
When making these devices, you need to know where they are to be used, as the angle of the gnomon (through the middle) when facing true north depends on the latitude, and the calibration of the chapter ring depends on the longitude. Naturally, when the clocks change for summer it too has an effect, so probably best to keep your watch after all...

Red Deer pair

 
It's taken a long time to get round to including this photo on my blog, but here it is:
Installed in a lovely big field of their own, these deer live in the Vezere valley near Limeuil.

Humphrey Hare

 
Specially created for Chateau Lestevenie; a running hare is the emblem on their wine labels. The sculpture uses a selection of components including harrow tines, horseshoes, and the cylinderhead from a Solex moped. The hare measures 1.3metres long. August 2011

Triffid

 
A diversion into the plant world here; Four tractor seats, harrow tines and a trivet were used to make this piece which stands 1.9 metres high

Red Deer Stag

 This larger than life red deer was created as one of a pair commissioned for a large garden where the viewing distance meant that a standard size deer would tend to merge into the surrounding greenery. It stands 2m 30cm high and weighs so much that I couldn't move it to enable me to take a decent photograph. Delivering this pair will have to wait until help is at hand in a week or two's time.

Coq Gaulois

This is one of the biggest roosters that I have made, but it still uses more or less the same components as the smaller versions. The key was to start with the biggest axehead possible which is now a pretty rare item in this area! Coupled with a bigger than average set of forks for the legs and a lot of extra parts in the tail including an antique straw cutter this sculpture now resides on my own pool terrace, but for how long is anyone's guess.

Door stops

My commissions are quite varied these days and include bird tables and door stops.
Here is a selection of the latter, made from antique flat irons and log splitters featuring handles that first saw service as fire tongs

Little Brown Bird

OK, you're right, I'm having a laugh...
Not my usual style, this piece was born from an interesting tree root that I picked up in the forest. After pressurewashing the dirt out of the roots, I fitted a steel base and added a slightly modified knife handle representing a songbird...I'll take it along to my next exhibition to see if it sells!

Poule

Created at the request of a french client who had already bought a Rooster (or should that be a Coq?) this hen is the usual mixture of garden tools including a small mattock for it's tail.
April 2011

Sanglier

A recent life-size wild boar sculpture created from a wide variety of old agricultural implements and filled with the largest pinecones that I could find.

Heron and Nest

This is really two sculptures placed together; The last time I made a set like this, someone bought just the nest and I sold the heron to another customer some time later. This set has been created for a local exhibition and may well stay together when it is sold. Ironically, the nest was about twice as much work to make as the heron. in this example, the eggs are boules, but I have used white pebbles in the past, and blown goose eggs would be suitable too.

Foal

A photo of a Foal; just for once I have tried to show how it evolved in the next four posts, using whatever I had lying around.

The start of my Foal sculpture

People keep giving me old agricultural implements so that I can use the parts for my sculptures, and these horsedrawn ploughs were no exception. For an experiment, I decided to make something with them, taking photos as I worked, so here goes...

Foal under construction

Four plough handles have been used to form the legs of a foal; it's useful here to have a variety of ploughs to work with so that the legs don't all look the same, although one of them had to be extended using a hammerhead, as it wasn't long enough!

Foal, two thirds done

In this photo you can see that I have used one of the ploughshears and a couple of rakes in the body of the foal; Not so visible is a shovel as the animal's buttocks.

Foal complete

The finished foal sculpture stands 1m70cm high; since I started taking photos of the construction, I decided to complete it with it's head turned to the left, i.e. away from the camera, but you get the idea! February 2011.

Christmas Deer

Created for Christmas presents, these deer now live a few miles apart, although they look good as a pair. Maybe one day I will make a herd which can live together at the top of my garden. They'd probably survive longer than their real counterparts if spotted by the local hunters!