When creating a piece of animal portraiture, not only can an animal's physical shape be captured by a 3-dimensional piece of art but also its spirit, temperament and mood. Subtle alterations to an eyebrow, muzzle, ear or nostril can have a dramatic influence on the feel of the piece. It is these very small but important elements that I focus on to try and make the portrait as accurate as possible.

Creating a sculpture with as much detail as Flexion or The Major (see the Gallery for photos) can take 3-4 weeks before it reaches the bronze casting foundry. It requires a substantial collection of photographs and measurements, all of which I will take myself, and time with the animal to establish its temperament. I may require you to play with your dog or exercise your horse briefly to capture those all-important images. If this is not possible we can discuss ways of getting the right images for me to work from. Once I am satisfied that I have enough source material, we will discuss what you are looking for in the piece. It may be that you would prefer a freer approach, or perhaps every detail is crucial. As long as I know your requirements before I begin the modelling I can accommodate almost all requests.

I can also produce portraits of the whole horse. I hope that those of you that have seen my work in real life have seen that the pieces are extremely accurate. Since I am able to convert many photographs into a 3-dimensional sculpture without the use of any computer graphics or other software, I use the same techniques whatever the subject. If I have enough photographs your sculpture will not fail to move you, whether it be a head-and-neck portrait or a full-size, whole horse in any pose. All sculptures will have to be designed on a smaller scale, therefore you will be able to change aspects of the piece at this stage or add further images to the design brief if you feel that there are elements you are unhappy with. However, I am very confident that even at this early stage you will be impressed with how lifelike the piece appears.

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to get in touch.