Sculpture

I sculpt abstract forms in stone, working mainly with hand tools. The sculptures are tactile, biomorphic and display their geology.

My lifelong love of geology has led to stone-carving via beach-combing, rock-climbing and mineral-collecting. I grew up in the Peak District and lived in the Alps for a while. I now live in Crouch End and carve at a bench in our exotic garden.

I work mainly in fossiliferous limestone, marble and alabaster, sometimes in rarer stones such as serpentine, sodalite, verdite and orbicular diorite.

I like to source stone direct from where it occurs, searching around quarries and scree for promising raw rocks. Most of the stone I carve is 100-350 million years old before I shape it, often guided by its natural markings.

I often work by commission. In most cases, I’ll talk to the prospective commissioner before they make a commitment and come up with a plan to include a description, sketches, possibly a clay maquette, a recommendation on type of stone and a budget.

My studio and stone store are in the garden and I’m in my element there. Shaping the landscape and shaping planting are close relations of sculpting. Before I became a full-time sculptor, I designed exotic gardens and still find time to develop the one I work in.