Work in progress...

I found this little piece if driftwood on Littlehampton beach along with a mermaid's purse a few months back, and started carving her while staying in Minehead during the recent cold snap.

The first stage was to decide the nature of the sculpture.

Next to mark out a rough silhouette.

 

More detail is added with the tail taking shape.

Now the head and arms.

How she looks now after a quick sanding of the main features.

Reaching Dunster beach

On my recent travels I found myself on the road back home from Minehead to London, remembering that I had visited Dunster Beach a few years before, I decided to make a detour and see if I could find some driftwood.  It was a beautiful day, and I just couldn't waste it by spending the whole day in my car!

Dunster Beach panorama.

One of my finds in amongst the sand and seaweed.

Mudlarking on the Thames shoreline

My Saturday morning was a carefully planned affair, up at 7am and out by 8 to catch the low tide on the Thames shoreline at Tower Bridge.  I wasn't sure what to expect, but within 30s of reaching the shore I had found my first bit of clay pipe.  My main purpose of going was to find driftwood, anything else would be a bonus.

Walking to Tower Bridge.

First steps onto the shoreline.

taken from under the bridge looking onto HMS Belfast.

I found loads of bits of pipe, and also midden bones (bones from animals that have taken on the hue of one of the most commonest items thrown into the Thames - poo ;)  a couple of teeth, loads of pieces of tiles, and a few pieces of wood, which smell awful.  In fact the driftwood smells so bad, I'm not sure I can use it.

Close-up of the 'beach', here you can see tiles, glass, shells, bits of pipe...and stones.

Mud, Mud and mud.

I spent a few hours on the shoreline, and left with my bag bursting with pipes and bones, in search for a bacon sandwich and a coffee.

The sky looking mean and moody over the Gherkin.

And at the other end of the city...blue sky.

Date with the early evening light

Determined to take a few photographs of one of the beaches I go to collect driftwood, and other objects left by the sea, I ended up reaching the beach off of Rock a Nore in Hastings after the sun had set.  I had lost the light, but I persevered with my camera and ended up taking one or two OK shots, capturing the atmosphere of the early evening.

Looking over towards Fairlight.

Rock a Nore beach, catching the fading light.

Along the beach I started to see bits of driftwood, a fantastic surprise, as Hastings beach is not that good for driftwood.  So in the fading light I took photographs of these pieces, and collected them as I went.  To begin with I could see the wood clearly, but as I was retreating to my car, the light had faded so much I didn't have a clue what I was picking up!  At least, I knew it was wood ;)  This really added to the experience of searching for wood to carve...it was exciting to open up my bag the next day to see what I had picked up!

Now the fun of looking for the wood, and becoming more aware of the beach surrounding, becomes part of the process of creating the finished piece.