Sometimes a thing happens that triggers an emotional response. It could be a glimpse of something beautiful or the wish to express an experience or feeling.
As an artist that works in metal I will inevitably begin to think of how I can represent that response through my work. Honestly I’m never happy with what I come up with. It’s never exactly what I want. It’s too obvious, too clunky. And so all too often it’s pushed to the back of my mind with all the other ideas I can’t resolve into something worthwhile.
Recently I’ve come to realise that it doesn’t need to be perfect. Just to create something is a start. It may not be born fully formed.
Sculptures are like poems
A sculpture is like a poem. It needs constant revision to refine it and make it beautiful. But it’s got to start somewhere.
This is a post I added to my Instagram feed recently. It’s the reason that I wrote this blog post.
Last evening was beautiful and so I went to Holyford woods, my local nature reserve, to say goodbye to my best friend Otis. Otis was my dog, he died last September but I’d wanted to wait until Spring to say goodbye.
Holyford woods have been part of my life as far back as I can remember.
I used to walk there with my mum on hot afternoons in the school holidays.
Then, later I’d go there with my friends. I remember days spent sat on the wall of the reservoir, in the middle of the woods, in the sunshine.
I went there on the second date with my wife.
Otis had his first experience of woodland there when he was wee. I think he had total sensory overload and all he could do was run up and down the track for the sheer joy of it.
Holyford is famous for its Bluebells and they are carpeting the ground up there at the moment. So, today, instead of doing all the work I should be doing, I made this little Bluebell sculpture in memory of Otis and Holyford Woods.