Playful

Sea urchin from Portugal, cork driftwood, dry passion fruit skin, snail fossils, a glass sphere I found at a flea market in Switzerland, clay.

Agony

I found this piece of tree bark on a beach in Portugal. Straight away, I thought that adding the hands and feet would make a perfect little sculpture. I wanted to make them black, but a gentle friend suggested this gentle grey colour. I believe she was right :-) The base is a piece of black locust fence post from Serbia.

Angel

Seashell from Scotland, rock from Portugal, hazelnut from Switzerland.

Hope

Barbed Wire from Serbia. Wood and rock from Portugal. The wood is from a beach campfire.

“... hopelessness is the enemy of justice. Hope allows us to push forward even when the truth is distorted by the people in power. It allows us to stand up when they tell us to sit down, and to speak when they say be quiet.” Brian Stevenson

Harmony

I found the two burned and washed wood pieces on a beach in Portugal on the same day. Maybe they were part of the same tree, maybe part of the same fire, so they had to stay together.

Improvise

The wing is just as I found it on a walking path in a forest nearby Basel, Switzerland. The head is a present from a friend; a rock from somewhere in the Swiss Alps. Arm and legs; rusty wire from Serbia. The base is a piece of slate from Sernftal, Swiss Alps, brought here by a kind friend. The body is a piece of wood I found in Valais, Switzerland. It lay in front of a house on a mountain slope. On the slope, there was a big trampoline, a swimming pool and a slide, with a ladder to climb onto. This piece of wood might be part of that construction. The children trampolining into the swimming pool on the slope of a mountain must feel like flying.

Peace

Black walnuts found in Switzerland and rocks from a Portuguese beach.

Wonder

Snail shell, rock and a flower from Portugal. I love walking along the coast, waiting for the sunset. The grass is full of little snails and flowers, and they all look magical as the evening sunlight slowly settles on them.

Fairy

All these wee bits are from Glarus, Switzerland. I collected them during a walk with my dear German teacher.

Black

A black acorn found during a walk in the countryside near Basel. I read that acorns turn black if they are exposed to a lot of stress. A piece of Bog Oak from the depths of the bog from the UK, Peterborough. Bog Oak is estimated to be between 3000 and 8000 years old. Dried papaya seeds.

In Love

Driftwood from Portugal, avocado seed and rock found in Switzerland. Clay heart.

Longing

A little sea urchin stuck to a rock, and a pebble found on a sandy beach in Portugal.

Jellyfish

Thistle seeds and a sea urchin shell from Portugal. The base is a piece of cork driftwood I found on a flea market in Switzerland, and the little branch is a piece of driftwood I found in Scotland.

Light

A piece of wood found during a walk in a forest nearby Basel, Switzerland, and clay.

Writer’s Block

Driftwood found on a little beach in Portugal. The feather is from Germany; North Sea coast. A friend brought it to me many, many years ago. I believe it belonged to a seagull. The snail shells are from Portugal, the rock from the Swiss Alps and the paper from a few centuries old book printed in Paris.

“Hell is empty, and all the devils are here.” William Shakespeare

Shepherd

Tree bark from Portugal, seashell from Scotland, black locust from Serbia, clay.

Gardener

Two snail shells, the same size, the same colour, found laying next to each other on a walking path in a little forest near Basel. The hole for the neck was already there. They were just a perfect match. A piece of wood that floated in the Rhine.

Balancing

Tree bark, flower, and a limpet shell from Portugal, rock from Jura, Switzerland.

Balancing might be one of the most difficult things to master :-)

Sorry

The flowers are the paper wrappings of small Snaps firecrackers. I popped them with some friends after midnight on 1st January 2019 in Germany. The pavement looked like it was covered with little flowers afterwards. The tree bark and the rocks are from Portugal.

Busker

Driftwood and rocks from Portugal.

Simple

Driftwood, sea snail and rock from Portugal.

Hiker

Piece of rock from the Swiss Alps, driftwood from Portugal.

Englishman

The second piece made during lockdown. Limpet shell and tree bark.

Tree

Volunteering for Trees for Life in the Scottish Highlands. We were planting trees at Allt Ruadh. The rock is from a hole for a new tree, and the stem is a dry heather branch. The moss is from a big rock that lays at Dundreggan Estate. This estate contains one of the remnants of the Caledonian Forest, the native forest of the Highlands.

Stuck

Two sea hearts and an old oboe mouth piece box found at a flea market a long time ago. Rusty nails from Serbia. A piece of disintegrating tree bark from a forest in Switzerland.

“Sea hearts spread around the world in water. They are so resilient they can float and survive for years. They can journey on the tides and winds and when they find the right conditions to grow they can put down roots and grow and flourish, and adapt to new places, naturalise.” Catherine Potter

Rusty

Two rusty beer bottle caps, two rusty screws, a eucalyptus seed and a rock from Portugal. Two rusty nails from Serbia.

Waiting

Two snail shells from Portugal, driftwood, lichen and a rock from Switzerland.

Shelter

A magnolia grandiflora seed pod from Portugal. The tree stands in front of the door to the yoga room at Omassim. Omassim is a guest house and yoga retreat run by Lia and Eduardo. I feel sheltered when I am there. Smelling the wonderful, big, white flowers before a yoga class with Lia is uplifting and grounding. Driftwood from a small beach close to Omassim, clay.