The Natural Eye is the annual exhibition of the Society of Wildlife Artists, held at the prestigious Mall Galleries in London in October. The show has over 400 works by more than a hundred artists inspired by the natural world. I have eight pieces on show.

This Long-tailed Tit was very difficult to make due to its size and the need to keep the original colour on the found objects.

I was thrilled and honoured to receive the BirdWatch and Swarovski Optik Artist of the Year Award for my Calling Raven. I am so grateful to the sponsors and judges, and look forward to making use of my new Swarovski spotting scope.

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Another calling bird, Calling Curlew was inspired by seeing and hearing a few pairs on the farmland near my home.

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The Flying Nightjar was inspired after I was lucky enough to see excellent views of displaying males at dusk in the summer. There were several pairs in one patch of clear fell forest, which seemed to encourage much earlier activity from the territorial males of this nocturnal bird.

My selection of sculptures are not all birds though, I had a lot of fun making Mattock Backed Sea Turtle.

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I enjoyed making a perch. The stripes on the body and the upright dorsal fin really plays to my materials. I was pleased to get it to balance on the pelvic fins.

Itchy Nose, a study of a hare grooming itself and Chain Tawny Owl completed my selection of pieces.

The Natural Eye exhibition at Mall Galleries is the annual show for the Society of Wildlife Artists. I always try to make a variety of pieces to celebrate the natural world. 2023 is the sixtieth anniversary of the SWLA.

Shear Capercaillie was the first piece that I made after an enforced leave from the studio of a few months to recover from an eye injury and multiple surgeries.

Secateur Eared Bat was a fun last minute addition to the exhibition.

Beet Hook Greylag is a life sized goose sculpture. I rather liked the serendipity in using the sickle type beet hooks for the piece. Before mechanisation, beet hooks would have been used for topping the leaves off sugar beet by hand, over-wintering geese make use of sugar beet fields for foraging so it seems very apt.

Reclining Hare

I exhibited a couple of small hare sculptures. Reclining Hare and Hare Washing.

Cable Crested Grebe looks deceptively simple, but it took a lot of careful consideration to capture this elegant bird.

The Natural Eye, the annual exhibition of the Society of Wildlife Artists is held at the prestigious Mall Galleries, London. The show runs from 13th-22nd October and has over 300 works by many different artists inspired by the natural world.

I have a few pieces in the show. Chain Necked Water Rail was inspired from seeing one when I was in the Wadden Sea National Park in Denmark as part of the SWLA collaborative project earlier this year.

I have made a couple of hares for the show as well. Scratch is a smaller piece and Hare on Spade is pretty much life sized.

Scissor Tailed Tern is a sculpture with lots of negative space and made of carefully selected items for a more minimal piece.

Another bird in the exhibition is Fork Crested Lapwing.

Sickle Winged Swift (accidentally catalogued as Scissor Winged Swift) is another piece available from the exhibition.

The 58th annual exhibition of the Society of Wildlife Artists runs from 14-24 October 2021 at Mall Galleries in London. I have several pieces for sale at the exhibition. I have been inspired by animals that I see close to home as well as making a couple of works as a result of spending time at The Argyll and Islands Hope Spot Project in Scotland.

Shear Tawny Owl is about life sized and is perched on an old metal pipe. I really enjoyed playing with textures to describe the soft, barred plumage on the breast of the bird. Chain from an old dog lead, a carving fork and a small garden fork worked well. I am lucky to have a pair of tawny owls resident in my garden, although I rarely see them I do hear them a lot.

Fork Feathered Raven is a life sized raven. There have been a pair wintering close to me here in Norfolk. Ravens are impressive birds and lend themselves well to the materials I use. The shaggy feathers are various garden forks and the huge beak is based around a ‘finger’ from a combine harvester. I enjoy making the sculpture balance and getting the stance of the subject right. I was careful to ensure that this raven stood properly without resorting to using the tail as a third point of contact.

Roe deer are common around where I live. I think they are the most elegant of the deer species in the UK. I have made female roe deer before but when I was looking through a box of pliers, I found some handles that made me think of the roebuck’s antlers so decided to try and make one. I wanted to emphasise the delicate stance by using simple tapered shapes for the legs rather than trying to create feet.

I was watching the house martins and swallows gathering before they started heading south and thought it would be nice to try and make a swallow. Whenever I make a sculpture, I look around at all the different tools I have in store and this large pair of tweezers made a perfect tail for the male swallow.

I am very fortunate to see hares almost daily here in the Brecks of Norfolk. I never get bored of them and love watching them. They are easiest to see in the winter or spring when the fields are bare or the crops low and it helps if I am out riding one of my horses as I have a great view from higher up!

Padlock Shore Crab and Sawblade Wrasse were inspired by a trip I made to Tayvalloch in Scotland in July. Several SWLA artists were invited to spend time in this stunning area to swim and snorkel so that we could then make work inspired by the experience. It was part of The Argyll Coast and Islands Hope Spot Project, set up to celebrate the amazingly rich marine habitats of the area.

Visit Mall Galleries to view the work, book a ticket to visit the exhibition or purchase one of the sculptures.

If you wish to commission me do get in touch via the contact form from this website.