Te Kehua

This would have to be one of the ugliest sculptures I've ever done - well, one that I've ever seen, even, but some people think it's great! and I didn't even do much to it! Mostly naturally sculptured, I took the top half off the beach & brought it home because I thought it was an interesing piece of wood, pyramidical in form, and kept turning it over to contemplate all sides, a few days or weeks at a time, and you can imagine my reaction when I discovered this! Aaaarrrgh!

It was too good to ignore, though, so I found the base, and polished up a face on that, too. I reckon the base looks like a sleeping lamb, you know, with it's head to one side as they do. I contemplated many names for it. Of course many people have suggested "The Scream", but that's been done. "The Spirit of Evil" stuck for a while. The story I made up to go with him (I know you're supposed to do it the other way round, but too bad) is that he represents those who prey on others, and the lamb represents the innocents. He's protecting his prey, while revelling in the fact that he's claimed his victim, at the same time looking around for the next. He may be looking at you and saying "You're next". Recently, an old Maori man walked past our place, and stopped to look at the sculptures I have on my front lawn, and said how good he thought they were, so I invitied him to look at my other sculptures. When he saw this one, he exclaimed "That looks like a Kehua!" so now he's "Te Kehua" (the Spirit). Red beech, pohutukawa base. I've got NZ$1500 on him, but if anyone wants him, I'm VERY negotiable!

I'm going to be away in Thailand for a wee holiday, so I'll catch you later on in October. Meantime, check out my new web site my daughter Christie's done for me www.driftwoodsculptures.co.nz.

Cheers, Paddy.

New Whale Tail and Matau

I've just finished these two sculptures which are winging their way down to Te Huia Gallery in Arrowtown as we speak! The whale tail is made from NZ native Kahikatea, otherwise known as white pine. It's a LOT harder than what we normally think of as pine. In fact, it's one of the hardest woods I work with, but it does create a beautiful finish, and is very hardy by comparison. The matau (fish hook) is made from NZ native Beech. As you can see it has wicked grain in it. The "fiddleback" is amazing. That's those shimmies branching out from the middle of the hook. They have a haulographic effect as you move around it. You can see it in the raw piece before I sculpted it. They're created by stress on a branch as the tree tries to hang on. They're commonly referred to as fiddleback, as it's what violin makers used to look for to make the back of their "fiddles". Now I look for it to create my pieces.

Pounamu River Stone

I bought this Pounamu boulder from a woman in Greymouth who's in her 60s and had it for years. When her grandmother died, they found it in her shed, so it had been in the same family for three generations. Her grandparents had a gold prospecting license on a river around there, and used to carry the occasional other piece out. They must have got it when they were fairly young, as it weighs 51 kg and is VERY difficult to carry. For overseas people, pounamu is commonly referred to in New Zealand as greenstone, and is THE sacred stone to Maori. In fact, now Maori own all the pounamu left in the natural environment, and no one else is allowed to collect it. Because this was found and retrieved long before that law was passed, there are no probems with this piece though. It has been blessed by a local koumatua (elder).

This is a river stone, and, when it lies flat, you can see where a natural water course has been created in the stone over - who knows? Perhaps thousands of years. The water course actually forms a natural koru pattern, which you can see in the photo. The koru is a fern frond, meaning new life. I have certainly given this stone new life. I have polished it up (very sooth to the touch), and put it into a piece of totara, which is the main wood Maori use to do their carving. This totara was also naturally sculpted by a river, and looks itself a bit like a flowing river.

The stone does lie flat on the totara base, but both sides are so stunning, that all who see it agree it is best shown off by standing it on end.

The girl in the photo is my gorgeous mokopuna (grandaughter) Ashley-Rose Linda Etu Marama Cooper

It is for sale, so if you are interested, e-mail me at paddy.glyn@xnet.co.nz or phone me on +64 (06) 8366216

Old Walking Stick restored

I not only create new wood pieces, but buy and restore old ones. I've just finished an old Maori walking stick. Fabulous carving, but when I bought it it was broken in two places, and one eye was missing. Repairing the handle was easy, but where the shaft was broken, it was totally munted, with even some of the carving missing. So i had to gradually build it up using sawdust and PVA, and then re-carve it. It's not as good as the original, but most people have to look a second time to see where it is, and only find it because it's shinier than the rest. Hopefully in time, it'll all blend in together. I used a bit of recycled antique ivory for the eye, so it looks the age. I think it's about a hundred years old, and by the look of the style, may have been carved by Tene Waitere.

Dolphin

Here's how the dolphin progressed from the raw bit of drifwood to the finished product. I'll probably never get another one like it, as not only did the grain split to form the tail (by forming a new branch), but the grain on the back goes up and along to form the fin.

The dolphin is New Zealand Rimu, and it sits on a base of a red beech burr.

September Exhibition

There's a great exhibition on in Hastings for the month of September. It's part of the blossom festival (Yeh! Spring!). Three entries from each exibitor are allowed. I decided to put the dolphin that's he feature sculpture on my web site in, my most recent large red beech whale tail, and a red beech burr bowl. I didn't have a suitable bowl made, but had a really nicely shaped burr in my den (the hermitage) that, by the colour of the outside, had to be red beech. We had to enter the dimensions, so I measured the burr, and sent off the application. Then some time later, after it was too late to change the enries, I thought I'd better get it done. I ripped into it with the chainsaw, and was cutting it on greywacke. The shavings coming off were the same colour as the greywacke! It wasn't a red beech burr at all! In fact, I'd never seen a burr of this colour at all! Not only that, but when I'd finished it, it was not only grey, with some little red burr dots showing through, but the whole thing has a ghostly silver sheen to it, with a holographic effect! (This burr bowl is available from me Ph. +64 (06) 8366216). I think it's a puriri burr. It's about 50x40cm by 12.5 cm deep. Real munty sized fruit bowl.

So then I had to go out and find a red beech burr of the right size. Luckily I found a suitable one, which has come up stunningly, and because it's still wet (having just washed up on the beach) weighs pretty heavily.

The opening was on Monday evening, and a good time was had by all. The other works exhibited are also of a really high standard - I was pretty impressed. The exhibition is at the Hastings Art Centre in Russell St (ph. 8789447) and runs until the 26th.