....with some of the trail maps and flyers for both the wood and the stone trails on the Chevin with Richard Marsh (right) the Head Ranger who initiated and supported me with the trails.

 'The Otley Show'   I carved this 'Ram's Head' from start to finish in a day and  is now sited at Temple Newsam House, Leeds.

The Otley Show is the oldest agricultural show in the England and I was proud to be involved....I have already been asked to return next year as hundreds of people said the spectacle of chainsaw carving added a new dimesion to the tradition of the show.

 'Chippendale chair' in progress

 The wood has arrived and my son checking it out !

 The Chevin Forest Park ...where the trail was made and sited.

 Here is a small tractor |I carved out in Pennsylvania in a couple of days during the Ridgeway Rendezvous which is the biggest annual gathering of chainsaw carvers in the world.

 'Cradle'  an earlier piece on the chevin with environmental concerns.

 Initial sketches for the Fossil sculpture.

 'Chariot'  acts as a look out tower for kids and lets people know of the Roman history in yorkshire.

 'Chariot' quick volumetric sketches working out the spacial qualities of the piece.

'A Yorkshire Tale' 2007......a narrative of images carved on site   Otley Chevin, near Leeds.

'Cradle' Pine 6feet tall. I hand carved this sculpture on site and he was intended to represent a protector of the environment.

'Celtic King' Pine 4feet tall.

'Cradle'.... close up showing the colossal hands wrapped around the vulnerable leaf.

'A Yorkshire Tale' 5x3x3 feet Oak. Castles, steps, hiking boots, a ladder, a chain, clouds, a climber, a compass, and a rose.....links with storytelling and the imagination of youth.

'A Yorkshire Tale'...changing with time and nature.

This is a recent carving representing the glacial Wharfedale valley and is situated at Surprise View, up above Otley. It is a part of the Otley Geology Trail...there are nine stone carvings on a two mile walking trail depicting different geological stages in time.

'Fossil' this is part of the Heritage Time Trail, Chevin Forest Park at Otley in Yorkshire.

'Caveman' or 'Stone Age Steve' representing the 8,000 B.C. hunter with his weapons and flints.....and my daughter looking on !

'Roman Chariot'...also acting as a lookout tower for the distant Almscliff Craggs.

'Deer Family' 6x5x4 feet Oak 2010

Here shows the early stages of chainsaw carving when I began the Otley Chevin Heritage Time Trail...you can see here how working in high-relief allows for great spacial depth in the work.

This is a work in progress that I did at Birmingham College of Art (during the second year of my Fine Art degree) that went on to win the competition at the R.S.B.A. in London 1985.

....the removal of the 'milk carton' in the final hour was brave and paid off !

This an intimate small-scale stone carving dealing with family ties. This was a part of my first solo show at the Royal Institute For The Blind in Birmingham back in the '80s.

'Acrobats' Elm 7feet tall. This was a piece I produced in three days as an invited sculptor to the International Polish Sculpture Symposium back in 1997.

Back in 1988 I was asked to produce this.....the worlds largest money-box, for B.B.C. Children In Need....this shows the scale and the early stages carving the soft and brittle material of areated-concrete. I later painted it and in went on to the N.E.C. televised charity event.

This is the 'Ram's Head' I carved in a day for the Otley Show in May 2011, this is the oldest agricultural show in the calender.

.....undercutting and pattern-making to add a decorative element to the sculpture.

This was the first year a chainsaw demonstration took place here and I believe people have asked for it to be a regular feature at the show...I already have a design ready for 2012 !

Above is an early work I carved in a 4x2feet long piece of slate back in my Birmingham College of Art days....it was named 'Brothers' and depicts the struggles of sibling rivalry.My influences around this time were J.Epstein, H.Moore and H.Gaudier-Bzreska.

I carved this 'Leaf Week' when my wife and I moved into our first house together back in 1995.

....and here is the next one in our second home in 2002....the spirals and leaf entanglements representing unity and continuity.

'Science and Mathematics' stone 4x3x3.5feet 2001. This is the first of a series of four sculptures I am in the process of producing as a gift to the pupils of Prince Henrys Grammar School in Otley, Yorkshire where I am the present Head of Art & Design. Students in both years 9 and 12 designed the works through drawings and I then transfered these to three dimensions using stone-cutting powertools.

...and here is a view of the site looking across to Otley Chevin.

'Family Of Mine' Pine 3x2x2feet 1986

'Family Of Mine' Pine 3x2x2feet 1986.

'Knowledge' plaster 2x2x5ins. I carved this when I was back home in Leeds for the summer after my first year at Art College...poured some plaster in a milk carton, put on the music, sat in the sun and got my penknife....this was later carved in wood on Otley Chevin in the late 1990s but was stolen after a month !

'Guitar' 5feet tall...Otley Chevin.

A clay maquette for 'Fossil' 2009......I work out my designs in soft clay then hand carve small models in plaster before I switch on the chainsaw.

When my family and I were in Pennsylvania, U.S.A. for a year in 2007 I was an invited sculptor to the International Ridgeway Rendezvous Chainsaw Carving Competition. Living and working in Manheim I decided to carve something other than a bear or an eagle so I carved this tractor...I had intended it to have been in one large 5x5x5feet piece but I was limited by the wood available. Nearly 250 chainsaw carvers were there during the weekend mainly from the states but also from Germany, Japan and myself representing Great Britain so it was a proud moment for me and my family.

Artist and sculpture.

This is the house I was brought up.in Leeds and I carved a Yorkshire Rose in limestone as a memento of my happy childhood there.
'The Family Rose' Limestone 3x3x2feet.

...both my mum and dad had their own rose gardens to the left and right of where the sculpture is now sited.

'Still Life' 6x4x4feet aerated concrete . Royal Society of British Architects, London (Tarmac Topblock Sculpture Exhibition, First prize winner 1985)

'Infinity Loop' Chevin Forest Park, Yorkshire 1997/2009

'Roman Chariot' Chevin Forest Heritage Time Trail 2010

'Cradle' Chevin Forest Park, Yorkshire Pine (6feet tall)

'A Yorkshire Tale' Oak 5x4x4feet 2008.

I carved this on site with mallet and chisels over a three day period...the images appeared as the sculpture developed...even the compass in the foreground was only introduced when an orienteering event began in the carpark I was working in !

These were made in Wroclaw when I was an invited sculptor from the UK to take part in the International Polish Sculpture Symposium...they act as working drawings in space before and during the carving of 'Acrobats'.

'Acrobats' Elm 7feet tall.....carved in three days and sited in Poland.

'Adoption' Limestone 3x3x4feet. I did this when I was an Artist In Residence at Pudsey Crawshaw High School back in the mid 90s.

'Personal Uprising' 7feet tall Ash. I made this just after I had graduated from Birmingham College of Art in 1986.....the large branch limbs reaching up to the skies in hope and anticipation.

'Still Life With Chain' Limestone 3x2.5x2.5feet 1986.

Direct carving is the dialogue between the sculptor and the materials....this was an exercise where I set up a still life group of objects and then proceeded to release their representations in stone...the journey is of both discovery and discipline.