Tilted Heron

We rowed down the Wye yesterday from Glasbury to Whitney-on-Wye. Rented canoes from a great local company, Wye Valley Canoes who also run the River Cafe. Six hours of glorious river, just blissful and quiet. The herons and sand martins were our mostly companions, and Spider (the labrador) actually learned to sit still in the canoe...whether this was from sheer exhaustion after a few dozen (less than graceful) launches off the side.

Getting rooms ready for Hay Festival, and also our show at the Courtyard comes down on May 1st. The big question is will our new gallery space here in the granary be ready?

Work on the tilted heron is in full swing. After watching so many herons on the river yesterday I am excited to start work on the legs and feet.

We have cocked the design at about a 30 degree angle. It will be a challenge to get the weight right, and will be interesting to see what the wind makes of it.

I love the way it swoops as it turns.

A detail of Liberty and designs for a heron

I was looking through photographs of the Liberty commission, for an upcoming article. It seems so strange now to think the whole winter was dedicated to one peice (albeit a huge one). Nice to see the Craft Council has picked up on the PR, though. We still have the full scale drawing hanging in the studio to remind us of all the work!

It does make the next commission seem not so large...although a full scale heron in flight still presents a fairly complex wing span.

Gypsy caravans and an Elegant duck

The bowtop arrived yesterday...we all crammed in and imagined ourselves somewhere hot. Still mooning over Jeanne Bayol's book. It's in Fench, but the photos are lovely and the colours!!

Finished the little duck weathervane. A bit of a prototype, working this small. Charles Sainsbury-Plaice took a few snaps of it in progress when he came to the studio...I don't think it had it's wings, though.

I like the moodier photo though, because you can see the eye. Light little weathervane.

The calves in the field next door keep sneaking into the garden...I'm glad we have a hole in the hedge now (I am not sure the dogs agree, as it's completely winding them up).

Life after Liberty

Looking through old pictures and found this moody one of our running horse. The colours on the copper are amazing!

March was a crazy month for the studio. We opened our first fine art exhibition at the Courtyard, we delivered a monumental 8ft. tall weathervane (Lady Liberty) to the new Folk Art Gallery at the American Museum in Britain & we met Prince Charles (visited the house & studio).

We also bought a gypsy caravan (check out Jeanne Bayol's book Les Roulottes). March madness?

Finished the red tail kite commission, and straight on to an elegant duck.

 Lots of enquiries from Saturdays article in the Daily Telegraph. The hare was a big hit!
Nice quote too: "For the ultimate weathervane look no further than Greens Weathervanes"