A Night at the Theatre

The Hovering Barn Owl should be in the bath by the evening, with only the claws to complete today. It is balmy here in Herefordshire, so the doors are wide open, and the wasps are making slow circuits in and out. The Labrador is soaking up the rays. Even the cows are quiet (having spent the last three days bellowing).

Hovering Barn Owl in the Studio

Went to the Courtyard theatre last night with my two oldest boys (teenagers) to see Peter Shaffer's Equus. I am not sure they could quite believe their eyes when the actors got naked! The scene where the horses were blinded was quite jarring; I felt like I needed a little cry afterwards, but very enjoyable. The set was quite simple with six mounted horse heads in a semi-circle, looking down on the play, which took place in a sort of small golden circle. We the audience completed the feeling of "amphitheatre", as the actors themselves sat/stood watching the play unfold. There was a real sense of the horses ominous presence, bearing witness to the story. The heads were quite skeletal/mechanical, Grecian, stylized, and were in turn worn by the actors. It's always interesting to compare ideas like this with our own Horse Head Sculpture.

 I used to paint sets for a theatre company on Martha's Vineyard, the Vineyard Playhouse. This was just after graduating from art school, and I must have been holding down 3 jobs at the time (the days when sleep seemed optional). I remember Lettuce & Lovage, also by Sir Peter Shaffer. It was the first production I worked on. But my favourite was painting the background to Brian Friel's Dancing at Lughnasa...it was a huge endeavor; an enormous painting of the  Irish countryside across the whole of the stage. Completed in a single night's work! We had a huge troop of volunteers on board, but none of us had any training in painting sets. Seems crazy now, looking back.

I think I would enjoy working in theatre again.

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.

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"