Commissioning a Sculpture
Maybe you have an idea for a sculpture and just haven’t found the one you want. Maybe you have a spot in the home or garden that needs something, but you’re not sure what. Maybe you’ve seen a piece of mine and would like similar.
I can help - get in touch to discuss your ideas. We’ll talk design, scale, stone and price. The whole process is cooperative and collaborative - you can come over to the studio and check the stone in progress, or even wield a chisel so you’ve had a small part in the process. I look forward to hearing from you.
A Four Seasons Bird Bath, Bath Hartham stone. In memory of a beloved dog. Suffolk-based client.
Detail, resting dog.
We discussed the features for each panel, the client sending many photos, resulting in a very personal piece. An owl, a regular visitor to the garden.
Dragonflies, ox-eye daisies and a hare, another visitor.
The garden's pear tree and swifts.
The Guard, Ancaster weatherbed limestone. Commissioned to stand before doors to discourage people from using them!
The clients have a growing collection of sculpture in their cool, modern, Scandinavian-influenced home in Oxfordshire, including two of my pieces...
...and one of their own made on a Sculpture-in-a-Day course with me.
Fossil detail on this beautiful piece of stone.
Two Faces, Ancaster weatherbed. Client in Headington, Oxford. Client wanted to channel John Piper's green men but liked my work inspired by Greek myths.
The upper panel represents a lascivious god-figure looking down on the innocent mortal below. The client wanted the cuts to be very subtle, almost lost in the stone. Panels are 25mm thick and mounted 25mm proud of the wall on steel pegs. Please click the image for a more clear view of the work.
Oak Leaves and Acorns, Portland stone. Clients in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, had found the stone and kept it for many years before attending one of my exhibitions and asking for this carving. Acorns and background highly polished and waxed, leaves etc left textured.
Three Little Birds, Ancaster weatherbed. Client in West Gloucestershire wanted a close copy of a piece I had recently sold. The Three Little Birds are for her triplet children, as she used to sing the song to them in utero.
Client in Oxfordshire, family coat of arms., Maltese limestone.
I am often commissioned to make house names and numbers. This piece of Ham Hill stone has a gorgeous quartz intrusion forming its top edge. Client in Oxfordshire.
After some months the client decided that the shaded position of the stone meant that she wanted the letters painted to enhance them.
Another house name, a whimsical one for a client with a holiday cabin in Devon. Letters chisel-cut and highlighted in white paint and 24ct gold leaf.
A number plate for a client in Witney, Oxfordshire. Rescued Welsh slate.
Detail of previous piece showing chisel marks.
Rescued flooring slate, for a client in Somerset for his parents' home in Oxfordshire.
House number for dachshund lovers in Witney, Oxfordshire.
2022 Sphere, rescued roofing slate, rescued Cotswold limestone. Client in Staffordshire had seen the 2020 Sphere that I had made and wanted similar.
2022 Sphere installation. Each layer is handcut from between one and four individual pieces of slate. There are therefore about 150 parts to the piece, all held together by gravity - no glue is involved.
An unusual one - Oxford-based client is a hand-spinner of wool and wanted a beautiful stone spindle whorl. Blue alabaster. Note how translucent the stone is.
Reverse side of spindle whorl.
No, I didn't carve this - but I repaired it for a client in Suffolk. The bowl was in three pieces, the young woman in five more. I cut each piece down a little then fixed stainless steel pegs and used stone resin to join and match the stone colour.
For a Wiltshire client, for her friend going through an illness, to hold in dark times. A flint taken from the Ridgeway by the Uffington White Horse, engraved with the ancient lines of the horse and highlighted with aluminium leaf. Looks like silver but doesn't tarnish.
A commission for a regular client, a gift for her Cumbrian friend. A smaller version (about 80cm tall) of a Lakeland gatepost or stoop, cut in Welsh slate. I didn't have any Cumbrian in!
'Bird Talk' or 'Two Pigeons in a Pear Tree'. Based on a piece by fellow sculptor Nick Bale, who was asked to scale it up and install on this home in Oxfordshire. He felt unable to take on the commmission so asked me.
I'm always happy to undertake house names, whether unadorned like this one, or with ornamentation.
Another house name, rescued Yorkshire sandstone. Letters can be painted for higher contrast or left as is.
A garden-sized version of a Lake District stoop or traditional gate post in Welsh slate.