He was inspired by classic animal portraits in the naive style, originally.

I had The Financial Times as the base papier-mache paper and it just seemed appropriate that the final layer came from the stocks and shares pages!

This was last years birthday present for Granny. My son John designed the painting for the surface.

The box was made by covering a ball in newspaper strips. When this was hard I cut it in half and then layered in tissue paper. The pictures were painted on with watercolour and feature John's favourite moths, and animals.

Friends of ours live in the Amber valley in an idyllic cottage half way up the dale. They have a lovely garden, two horses and a number of chickens.

They do not however have a cockerel. So I made one for the girls. He is designed to sit in the midst of the vegetable patch in spring and summer to encourage them to lay. I don't think they fancy him much as reports of increased egg production have not come back to us.

I have played around with various forms of portraiture, and have to say that human beings are not one of my strong points. Having said that I do like the portraits that I have done of my children. The banner has two canvas and acrylic pictures done for my father and the two pencil portraits were for my mother-in-law.

You can't see it here but my 18 month old artist decided to help me colour in his jumper.

Hickory Dickory Dock Clock

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Dragon in the Orange Garden

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I made the clock for my son John's first Birthday. It is mdf. painted and then with the mechanism inserted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I painted this watercolour many years ago. But am still very proud of it. It now hangs in my sons bedroom.

This is a work in progress, although I have not had chance to do more to him. He is the first proper sculpture I have attempted in Papier-mache. He has a wire armature and is made in sections then covered in a fine pulp skin. The last layers are tissue paper and glue fashioned into a feathered finish.