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03/03/22 The sheep made a corporate decision to stay in the church for Christmas to look after the crib. They are still there!

03/03/22 The snowdrops are here!  Time for our year’s news. The three of us, Richard, Phyll and I are warm and comfortable at the ‘Australian Bungalow’ (21 Grove Road) in Havant, just quietly getting older. Richard turned 91, and Phyll celebrated her 50th. I am now 85. I find I think a lot about Granny, who did so much for Angela and me, after Mother died, aged 84. She took us shopping for school uniform, to London museums, and to the Watford Rep. I wonder if I would be that generous with my time, if the Grandchildren lived near? And where did she find the energy? We are the generation who are still around to remember life with bombs and air raids, but us War babies are getting more and more thin on the ground. Peter’s family is out of sight, but hopefully not quite out of mind, in sunny California, and we have not seen them for two years. Peter hopes to bring the tribe over during the Easter break, that will be Sersha, Lula, Jimmy, Tommy and some au pairs! It depends on the dreaded Covid, which they have all had, possibly even twice. Richard loves to read, and the most comfortable place he finds is to lie on his bed, climbing into an amazing chair Peter has given him, for the evening. Phyll, works from home as a civil servant. I had two ‘events’ during the year. One was to make a sculpture of ‘Black Lives Matter’ a black man gives a white man a fireman’s hitch, and the other was to have an exhibition of all my work, in our parish church, where Richard has been helping out since 1998. Look below for further details of both.

13/01/22 I threw everything I had at this exhibition, even the concrete cats of 50 years ago, to fill this large space. I did not have enough plinths, so had to use the church tables with double sheets thrown over them. Here are Phyll’s photos of the exhibition first night. You can enlarge the photos with two fingers.

12/01/22 Here is our ancient parish church. Tom the vicar has kindly kept ‘Black Lives Matter’ in the church on display, while we look for a home for it. According to a discussion on Radio 4, sculptures of black people are very rare, there are only three in London. It would be good to find this one a home where it can fly the flag of equality of all people. Everything else from the church exhibition has been packed away, except the sheep who decided to stay in the church and look after the crib! So I fetched her sister from the garden and two lambs to keep her company! The lovely thing was that when the children spent a Christmas afternoon in the church, they played with the sheep, riding them and photographing each other. That’s what sculpture is for isn’t it? There is also a fun rumour that the Vicar's grandson rode a sheep across the church during a Carol Service!

12/01/22 These are the temporary ‘installations’ in the Exhibition in the church, see previous post. The first of eight photos comes from a rumour that prisoners in the Bosnian War were locked in dog cages. It highlights the cruelty and futility of war. Next photo is concerned with the problem of plastic, particularly that it does not rot, and is filling up the seas, not to mention the suffering and death of marine life. We know all this, we half heartedly recycle a bit of it, but we cant seem to make plastic that rots, so we shrug and go on using it anyway. Next photo: “Kabul” where two ladies dressed in burkas, lie bleeding on the ground, together with their baby. Next one: “Tsunami”. This one highlights climate change The last is Jo, who is homeless and sleeping rough These five ‘installations’ highlight some of our problems by bringing them to our attention visually. They were shown on the floor, and got stepped on! The joke about them was that ‘some of Carol’s sculptures never get off the ground!’ It was fun putting them together. You can enlarge the photos with your fingers.

11/01/22 Invited by the Vicar, I have just had an exhibition of my work in the parish church here in Havant. Newly renovated, it was an exciting space for an exhibition. Having recently finished “Black Lives Matter” this was the centre piece. The church was a big space to fill!

19/10/21 Here is ‘Black Lives Matter’ from ito beginnings. It is made from offcuts of under floor insulation, and a spray can of that foam that builders use to fill holes. Then to shape it, with ordinary plaster. And finally to ‘patinate’ (colour) the final piece. It is ready now to be cast.

05/08/21 My sculpture of Black Lives Matter is now finished. It will join all my other work in an Exhibition in our local church here in Havant, in early autumn (dates to come). This comes out of the newspaper coverage of the black man who rescued the white man from trouble using a fireman’s hitch during a Black Lives Matter rally. It was in the wake of George Floyd’s death

20/01/21 The snow drops are up! Time for ACWORTH FAMILY (non) NEWS Not only did I not get round to sending cards at Christmas, but I missed the end of the year to wish friends a Happy New Year. (Optimistic?) We are so lucky. Richard and Phyll and I share a big house, so we are not in isolation all day, like so many. We hardly go out, except to whiz to Waitrose. Phyll works from home, so we are missing a dining room at present. Richard, now 90, reads the Times from end to end, and he and I get older and more wrinkly. Despite losing Bingo last year, Richard still drives to his favourite waterfront to walk, and check out the Brent geese, who winter here but soon will take flight back to the tundra. Peter and his four are in San Francisco, and we have not seen them for over a year, but they are fine, and growing up bi-lingual. Peter was 50 this year. I have a sculpture on the go for an exhibition in the church here, which was to have been in May. More details in a previous post. Signs of old age include losing things, and forgetting everything. So nothing’s changed really! Just worse! To make photos bigger, spread with two fingers. In the photos you will see Phyll’s birthday, me trying selfies in the mirror, Phyll working in the dining room, Richard ploughing through the Times, Father’s Day in San Fran, Phyll in her best Christmas outfit, me with a future oeuvre, the three toddlers over the Pond, and snowdrops from Becky, over the road, Lastly progress on ‘Black lives Matter’ the sculpture of the moment. Hang in there folks. It has to improve. Thank God for the vaccine. We look for good things coming, like Spring and colour and health and normality, and getting together.

24/12/20 A very Happy Christmas, and New Year! Here is a nativity I made when we lived at Derby. I always wondered why our predecessors in this house painted the fireplace red, but today it seems like just the right colour! Spread it to a bigger format with two fingers.

10/12/20 I am having some fun with my sculpture ‘Black Lives Matter.’ But finding it too cold to stay long in the workshop these days. However it is coming along. Here are some photos of the progress. Including Richard and Phyll, (unlikely models, but very game, and most helpful) modelling for me! Also Jack and Anna who come to clean the house, and get dragged in to modelling as well!

30/10/20 Black Lives Matter. Here is the sculpture so far. I decided to do a life size torso of the photograph of the black man giving a white man a fireman’s lift out of trouble during a Black lives matter rally in London. I had to keep it light so I could move it about, and started with offcuts of insulation material glued together in a very rough shape. Then I carved it back to a rough shape and started to use plaster. It is now recognisable . . . . Watch this space . . .

14/07/20 “Black Lives Matter”: I think I have bitten off more than I can chew. Remember the black man who saw a white man being attacked during a riot, slinging him over his shoulder and carrying him to safety? From a newspaper photo I thought I would try and replicate them in clay, as a maquette. But am struggling . . . . Here is the result, and they seem to have fallen apart!

10/07/20 Last winter I got into holly leaves in a big way. They go into wonderful dry shapes when they fall off the tree. We have a big tree outside the kitchen window. Still not thought out how to use them, although they look good in a heap with the light shining though them. What about having a group enlarged and put somewhere in a public space for children to climb about in?

09/07/20 I This was a One off technique I tried, a simple shape, inspired by Barbara Hepworth, but no horrible things like silicone rubber or fibreglass, with a mold at the end of it so that you can make lots of them, except that no one wants to buy it. One copy just suits me fine. Not exactly going to make a living though. I always love a Barbara Hepworth look alike.

09/07/20 Last year I was asked to produce a sculpture for a women’s cancer hospital in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. They had seen my ‘Family’ that I made years ago in Cyprus, and wanted the same as a bass relief. It was duly made and enlarged to five feet high to go into a niche, created for it in the wall. I added a teddy which I thought the children could touch as they passed, but that idea did not work for them, so I had to remove it. I really liked him, specially as he was modelled on my own childhood teddy, now almost hairless and darned all over. Three photos: The original made years ago, with Teddy and Without him! Which do you like?

30/06/20 The Coronavirus lockdown was a testing time for everyone. With our children and grandchildren 140 miles away in the Southwest we diverted a lot of love and energy to the allotment, which ended up looking much more manicured than usual. Eventually, the government allowed us a day trip to the south and we had a fantastic barbecue in the garden with the kids. Note from Carol: So glad to see Ken, along with Margaret taking time off from creating this website for me, leaving the allotment for a bit and seeing the grandchildren at last! Well done Folks

28/06/20 Just finished a little maquette for covid, but it is not quite right. Although the carer is dressed authentically in ppe, the victim has turned out looking like a child, and actually Children come very well out of covid and don’t even know they have had it. So I’ve got to think that out a bit, and start again.

31/08/15 We had a surprise family Christmas last year, as Richard fell down the stairs a few days before, and due to Phylls quick thinking, wound up in Accident and Emergency. To cut a long story short, despite breaking no bones, he was in hospital till February with a head wound, and then in a Care home near home. The House in France is let and Phyll, Richard and I are moving to a larger house down the road. Click on the photo to show Richard in our local hospital where they were terrific. He never forgot how to read. Then Raffi and Rosemary come down and join us for a day. He then is well enough to come downstairs and meet up with Bingo. In February he moved to the Carehome and could go out in the car. Here is Julie from France paying him a visit. Then a visit into Waitrose, hurrah, the shopper is back. Had to get him a My Waitrose card. The next to last photo ihe is saying goodbye to the Gang of Angels. That’s my name for the quite incredibly wonderful staff at Emsworth House Carehome. And there we are celebrating in the local. It was a tough 7 months, but here we all are. New address to follow . . . . .

22/11/14 Decision! No more bronze resin! No more messing about with molds and cast, at which I am totally ungifted, and I hate it! What the hell am I doing at 77 gearing myself up and stinking the house out for fibreglass and resin? I am going Back To Wood, while my arthritic fingers can still wield a chisel and clutch a mallet. Here is the log, here is the idea in wire, another pair of dancers. (I sell them, and then I miss them) On my website, look at Gallery, and then Wood, it is much the best anywhere in the website. Now I have put the log on the blog, I have got to bloody do it! Watch this space. Meanwhile, please admire the shelving, put up by Robin Field, who inspired me to put up some more, and at last the workshop is coming together and there is some space.

17/08/14 I am losing people at the moment. Remember Kevin? Who ordered a new work to be enlarged to 5 metres for his new Art Centre in Narbonne. So I made the Two Heads, and off they went with him to be enlarged, coming back a year ago. I have completely lost Kevin, but have the two heads back, and at last have cast them in bronze resin. I have also lost Steve the castor, so made the mold myself, and cast it. I really hate bronze resin, and get it all over myself, and then am usually not pleased with my results. However this one is not too bad, and here we all are. Another piece for the garden, and I think I will put them on my facebook page!

17/08/14 The garden has grown and flourished. The sequence starts with the race to get it done for the wedding last year, and ends with the rose planted for Sersha’s christening . Sersha and the rose and the garden are now more than two years old.

17/08/14 Just done an exhibition here. Wonderful space, a disused church, Chapel des penitants. But all slightly depressing. I resurrected the tall cats, in stone, plus the old birdbath, and sold a cat and the birdbath. I exhibited old favourites, knowing nothing else would sell.

02/08/14 Guess who I saw at st Pancras getting on eurostar to go to France for the Nornandy celebrations? I was meeting two old schoolfriends, Chad and Di. (They were more important than even the queen)

09/05/14 Guess where I have been . . .? Florida Keys, with Peter, Susan and Sersha. Conal and Ann Clancy joined Richard Phyll and I on a two week adventure. Surrounded by sea and coconut trees and a colourful garden, we have breakfast and Peter and Sersha take to the pool. Then a serious consultation on Sersha’s ipad. You can see the neighbour’s letter box dressed for Easter, and how the rich live, with the boat at the end of the garden. We all gather together for dinner, having played in the sea and sun all day!

02/03/14 Here is the Snowdrop! Another year at the Moulin. It’s a bit of a struggle really. I shan’t be buying a plot and building a house again, that is for sure. . I am just finishing the garden design with a pergola, but there is loads of planting and growing still to do. I’m not much enjoying getting old, with its associated aches and pains, I thought it was something that happened to other people! And just to think how easy it was to talk about Little old Biddies, and now I am one! Meanwhile, Richard, seven years my senior at 83 is in fine fettle. Although he spends quite a lot of time lining up his pills morning and evening, he helps out with the Anglican Church here, and in Havant. Peter and Susan are well, living in San Francisco with little Sersha, now two. Their marriage here in France last May was the event of the year. Phyll is well too, did a sideways job move during the year and likes it better, living in Richard’s house in Havant and keeping it warm in winter Sculpture is low on the list, although I won Artist of the Year with the Beverley Hills Outlook, an on line arts and culture review, and my only recent sculpture was favourably reviewed by them in February’s edition. I still sell slowly at Fisherton Mill in Salisbury and the Cecilia Colman Gallery in St Johns Wood. I have been with Cecilia for over thirty years, starting with alabaster cats back in Derbyshire days. In contrast to that highly respected West London gallery, occasionally I get an order from one of Peter’s websites. Here we all are. To see the photos, click on the snowdrop and WAIT. Eventually ten photos will rotate. Happy New Year! .

28/01/14 I’ve been working on a little “sketch”. I think it is called “The tree of mirth” but I thought of “Four old Farts” which gives a pretty good idea what they are laughing about. How do you do sculptures that make you laugh or smile, without getting cartoony? Phyll says she wants it at Havant because, she says: “I love the old farts because they are so jolly. Its like seeing a ray of sunshine on a stormy afternoon. It just gives you a lift, looking at it! ” It begun as a maquette for a wood carving, but somehow it took on a different momentum . . . Perhaps it is the beginning of something.

02/01/14 This sculpture, which I made while staying with Peter in the Armory in San Francisco some years ago, has just won me the award of Top Artist of the Year with the Beverley Hills Outlook, which is an online monthly review of Culture and Art. Well . . . I made that a long time ago. Next the BHO is going to review my latest work “Complete” which was made for Kevin Brennan of Narbonne, who had it made 5.5m high for his garden. Sadly I have never seen it, and have lost touch with him, and just have the 75cm plaster original. I think this award, and the Editors encouragement might get me casting it.