The sculptures are going to be made in situ, where the trees were felled.

It used to be common practice to convert trees into planks and other products close to where they were felled. The semi-processed materials were comparatively light weight relative to unprocessed trunks. Mechanisation in the 20th Century made moving heavy timber much easier: Today it is not uncommon to have one tractor-based machine that will fell, delimb, crosscut and extract timber to the nearest hard road!

The sculptures and associated furniture will be carved and constructed in the wood. Once they are finished, they will be dismantled and transported to the park where they are to be installed. First, however, the artists have to perform their magic!

The first piece that Martin and Mark are producing is a park bench. Its carvings will represent locally familiar fruits and leaves

The photo's above show the general form of the bench. The upright pieces have been sunk into holes in the ground. In addition to the oak, sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa) was used to form the seats, which are temporarily held together and in place with the uprights using strops and cramps. It was almost dark by the time Martin and Mark finished their first day manufacturing and sculpting!

The photo's below were taken a couple of days later in better light and after more detail had been carved into the oak.

27th Feb - The weather has been atrocious here today!

Not bad enough to stop the scultping and carving though!

The next few snaps show further roughing out and more detail added, as well as some of the tools.

Thursday 1st March

Today Mark has been busy making and erecting a tripod to help him move the large oak logs that will form the two largest sculptures. He has also erected a shelter for dodging the worst of the weather.

Once he had prepared the tripod and made his shelter, Mark began the process of reducing the butt log down to the heartwood. Oak has a reputation for durability, but this only applies to the heartwood. The outer, living sapwood decays as rapidly as any other non-durable timber. Thus to produce a sculpture that will not decay, the artists must first remove the sapwood.

One of the attractive aspects of using wood as a medium is that the material itself has its own fascinating beauty, known as 'figure': the patterns that are revealed on surfaces cut at different angles across and with the grain. Each species has its own particular characteristics. English Oak can be especially beautifully figured.

Here are a few close-ups of the sculptures: two sawn and one tooled surface.

Sunday 4th March

Martin has been carving more detail into the bench uprights, while Mark has moved the tripod into position and used it to suspend and rotate the trunk, so that he could finish the initial reduction and begin to rough out the subect.

The first of the 'stand alone' sculptures will represent a herd of cattle, harking back to the time when there was a regular livestock market in Ashford town centre.

Wednesday 7th March

The day starts with a cuppa and consideration of the design of the remaining two sculptures.

Martin has produced some sketches, which he discusses with Mark.

The two artists then consider their materials and how best to accommodate the design to the timber.

Mark has made good progress roughing out the cows with his chainsaw.

Saturday 10th March

The sculptors are taking a well earned rest today.

The following photo's show developments on the cattle sculpture and the first roughing out of the fish.

St. Patrick's Day

It's been a very hectic week! Work has been continuing with the sculptures, but the photoblog has dropped down the list of the priorities at the farm. The ground has dried sufficiently to cultivate the vegetable plot and harrow the pastures, and our small flock of Kent x South Down sheep have started lambing!

The river sculpture has developed and is now my personal favourite. Can you spot the following plants and animals in the photographs below?

Water Lillies, Heron, Roach, Pike, Kingfisher?

Wednesday 21 March

Just four days left before the sculptures have to be delivered. Martin has almost finished the scultpure with the riverside theme and Mark is making good progress roughing out the final sculpture.

So Spring is here!

The days are lengthening and in the wood the birds are building nests and laying their eggs, while the green carpet of bluebell leaves has been dusted with a snow of sunny-centred anemones.

27th March D-Day (Delivery day!)

Two months of careful planning, design and implementation are coming to their culmination this week. Work in the wood is almost at an end. The third sculpture featuring wildlife that was in the area before there were so many people, has been finished.

The front of the sculpture features an elk, a wolf and a hare. The reverse depicts an oak tree with a surprise nestling in the uppermost branches!

Yesterday we loaded the bench and the river sculpture into the trailer and pulled them from the wood with our old Massey Ferguson 65.

Well that's how we came to find cattle, fish, heron, elk, wolves and a host of other plants and creatures 'living in our wood'!

28 March Installation Completed

The following images capture the journey from the wood to Queen Mother's Park in Ashford, the installation process and the finished result.

If you live in SE England, keep your eyes open during the Meridian Tonight News programme on Channel 3 for the next week or so and you might see some live footage of the sculpting process and learn a little more about woodlands in the Southeast.

We'll maintain this page as it is for the next week or so before transforming the photo's into an on-line album and slide show.

Thanks for visiting this site!