I am exhibiting in the little meadow area at the Waunifor Art Exhibition 19 – 28 August 2017. It was lovely to have been given this opportunity to rethink my metal swifts, changing them to Oak on even longer steel rods. Just the beginning of a wonderful new relationship…

Together Again, Waunifor: Forest Arts Wales

Restrained, Waunifor: Forest Arts Wales

Oak Swifts on steel rods, Waunifor: Forest Arts Wales

I have just finished making the Red Deer Seat from a piece of Douglas Fir, chosen for its’ gorgeous red heartwood.  I will take it along to the National Botanic Garden of Wales for Wales Woodcraft Festival 20/21 August where I will be working in Fairy Wood.

Red Deer Seat: Forest Arts Wales

Red Deer Seat: Forest Arts Wales

I was over the moon to be given the window space at the Oriel Bevan Jones Gallery to exhibit my three Wirework waistcoats in July and August. At the same time inside the Gallery, I also showed my three Bog Oak Wall Sculptures.

Bog Oak & rusty wire: Blown Apart. Forest Arts Wales

Bog Oak & Copper Wire: Together Again. Forest Arts Wales

Bog Oak & Silver Wire: Recovery. Forest Arts Wales

The Yurt is now up and lived in!

Yurt completed. Forest Arts Wales

Yurt poles to roof crown. Forest Arts Wales

In August 2015 I found a second hand Mongolian Yurt on ebay that needed a bit of TLC. A big flat space will have to be made in the downward slope of the forest land to accommodate it. It was completed March 2016 after extraordinary bad weather delays. It will be perfect to live in here in the forest whilst renovating the old woodman’s cottage.

I hand carved this Oak Leaf incense burner from discarded Cherry Wood branches given to me.

Cherry Wood Oak Leaf Incense burner. Forest Arts Wales

Cherry Wood Oak Leaf Incense burner. Forest Arts Wales

I hand carved these lovely large Yew Mushroom buttons from discarded Yew branches from a neighbours garden. They will be perfect for a coat or big cardigan!

Large Yew Mushroom Buttons: Forest Arts Wales

I hand carved these fun single and double cherry wood buttons straight from discarded Cherry Wood branches that were given to me.

Single and double Cherry Wood Buttons. Forest Arts Wales

I carved these incense burners across both the long and short grain of some discarded Cherry Wood that was given to me.

Sculpture: Cherry Wood Incense Burner: Forest Arts Wales

Sculpture: Cherry Wood Incense Burner2: Forest Arts Wales

This is Assemblage Point, my poetry bowl.

Sculpture: Assemblage Point Poetry Bowl: Forest Arts Wales

This is Douglas Fir Pot,  my ongoing current work continuing my fascination with discarded tree limbs, which I slice into rings. It is exciting that some of the pieces are over 300mm wide and the pot is being created on a meter wide static base of a Douglas Fir tree.

This time, no thought needs to be given to the balance. How high can it go?

Sculpture: Douglas Fir Pot: Forest Arts Wales

Restrained is a pot made of various types of tree rings constrained to a three pronged structure of Cherry wood. It struggles to free itself from the solid frame.

Sculpture: Restrained Pot5: Forest Arts Wales

This is Grandads Chair. It was made from one of the discarded limbs of the Beech tree sculpture The Picnic at Cherry Hinton Hall, Cambridge. A tiny version of assembled tree rings mimics Grandads seat cover and cushion Grandma made.

Sculpture: Grandads Chair: Forest Arts Wales

I created Eucalptus Pot when I was living in Rhodes. I used pieces of a heavily pruned Eucalpytus tree and sliced them into rings. The balance of the tree was most important as the base was only 300mm across yet the height was over 1 meter tall with an opening span of nearly 2 meters.

Sculpture:Eucalyptus Pot Rhodes: Forest Arts Wales

I cut Swifts out of scrap steel and welded on to thin 3 meter wire rods which I embedded into the ground within the bush. They sway in the wind and bend alarmingly when birds land on them.

Sculpture: Swifts: Forest Arts Wales

The Canyon Circle is a cycle of my life depicted in shells, linked together with wire and supported within a welded frame.

Sculpture: Canyon Circle: Forest Arts Wales

I made Environorganisms out of mud and straw to the size of a human being The body is bent around the base of a tree to explore and understand the similarities between the two.

Sculpture: Environorganism: Forest Arts Wales

Leaf Coil is nearly a meter across.

It is made up of yellow Beech leaves and red Photinia leaves pierced together with pine needles. It demonstrates and explore the male and female elements within myself.

Sculpture: Leaf Coil: Forest Arts Wales

Willow Man was an exercise to see how ruthless I could be bending and twisting willow sticks whilst creating a life-size figure of willow.

It was also a good reason to make a beautiful laurel leaf jacket!

Sculpture: Willow Man: Forest Arts Wales