Nothing to do with boxes but.. the pure joy of shells!

Nothing to do with boxes but.. shells, oh the pure joy of shells.

Nothing to do with boxes but.. the handsomeness of slate!

Acrylic on slate. A view of one of my favorite places.

The lurcher measured about 14 feet long and 6ft head to toe.
A lurcher built on a hill using bits of slate I found lying around. The breadth of the different shapes I found really surprised me. If you were looking for a certain piece to fit in to the picture like a jigsaw, you mostly found the exact match pretty quickly.

A buffalo head put together from pieces of slate found near a deserted crumbling building.

Slate is something I have begun to love quite recently. It seems so versatile. The very fine layered slate can be wheedled, chipped and sanded into the kind of shape you require. Thick slate is somehow reassuringly solid and makes a good base to build on. Tiled slate a good medium to paint on and then helpfully stands up on its own without having to lean on anything. The options of slate do seem to be unending.

'KING ARTHUR TRINKET' BOX Private Commission (1)

This GENTLEMAN'S TRINKET BOX was commissioned as a birthday present. The man for whom it was commissioned loves the sea and is very interested in the Legend of King Arthur. When I bought the box originally there were holes in the wood where the locks and inlay were supposed to be. These I replaced with shells I collected from an amazing beach in Wales (King Arthur country). I used pages from second hand books about Arthurian Legends and Tennyson's poem, 'Morte d'Arthur', to make the picture of Arthur and Camelot in the lid of the box, which I then set behind glass. My picture was inspired by a painting of Arthur by Charles Ernest Butler. The box measures 28cm x 19cm x 11cm.