Wire has caught my attention and paint has completely grabbed it!

I have returned to my favourite and original bird, the oystercatcher. But time has moved on and I have progressed and this time I have used paint to capture its markings. I built up layer upon layer of paint (with my fingers-crossed) in the hopes that the bird wouldn’t look too flat and although I wasn’t happy with my first firing I am totally happy with the finished piece now. (I applied an extra even layer of paint and refired). The bold black and white markings with the clear red beak now look just right.

But I wanted to take my favourite bird one step further again.

I wanted to create a piece that would capture how I see them now out on the bay. Moving around and feeding as one big happy group.

So after recently attending two wire courses and investing quite heavily in some rather gorgeous new materials I decided to set upon making wire silhouettes. The silhouettes would hopefully add movenment and depth of field.

And oh how I love bending this wire! I have worked with willow in the past making baskets and sculptures and in comparison wire is just so damn biddable. (Obviously you can’t beat the smell of willow and it would still feature in my list of top 5 favourite materials…but wire….ooooh-ooooh, I am loving this wire).

I appear to like bending things to my will. (Ummmmm, what does that say about me!?)

And then the most perfect piece of wood to mount my birds on. I just love this chunk of composite wood. The layers that have been built by man, with a patina that has been added by the sea. (And just the occasional stripe of red – pure genius).

Flipping gorgeous. I hope you like it as much as I do.

Raised a few eyebrows when i walked down the beach with this earlier!