A large part of my work continues to be portrait sculpture and I strive to create pieces that capture a sure likeness and have the merit to stand as works of art in their own right. 

Within the traditional discipline of studying human form, the art of portraiture is as relevant as it ever has been . Its distinctive set of challenges continues to fire me: to capture a particular demeanour or bearing of an individual and animate key qualities in their character, hopefully resulting in a piece alive with its own inherent energy. A sculptor who has greatly influenced me in both his work and thought is Jacob Epstien and he talks of sculpture not being rigid but having to "quiver with life ".

 Subjects of my own portraits range from those bursting with vibrant individuality, sculptures that come to meet the onlooker more than halfway (such as Doug Ingram or Bill Locke ) to those meditative or dreamy (such as The Reverend Graham Dowell and Sir Edward Elgar ) or retaining a sense of calm and inner grace ( as in the 'Fulani Girl').

Monumental public sculpture, memorials to those such as Charles Darwin and Edward Elgar have to start from a well informed viewpoint and the choice of exactly how someone is to be portrayed and remembered, down to the very smallest details, can only be made after much detailed research . Inevitably the end process involves a team of people from different disciplines working together, (architects, engineers, site managers and ground staff, archeologists !, transport and installation experts )which becomes an exciting dovetailing excercise and a great foil to the lengthy period working alone in the studio . Relating the statue to its intended site is key to the initial design and inevitably throughtout the growth of these projects continuous consultation is made with the commissioning body.

To balance these figurative portraits I continue to build a collection of more interpretive work, often for myself, sometimes as commisions. The subjects are often animals and some are particular individuals that I know very well, carved in plaster rather than modelled in clay. The two approaches of sculpture - hacking and chiseling into a block or alternatively building up from literally nothing  - are as different and exciting as each other . The carvings are representational, often translated into bronze at a later date and they move beyond the realistic towards a distilled and more honed form. As such they are potentially  more instinctively driven( see 'Italian Greyhound Carvings I & II').