After the disappointment of the decaying beech tree at Moorlands (where the plan of carving several imps and elves had to be abandoned), a search for a suitable tree found a nice cherry stump adjacent to the footpath and in a pleasant spot near a pond.
I’d been sent a list of species found at Moorlands by the volunteers, and after discussions a woodpecker seemed a popular choice. I knew that I wanted to surround the wildlife with leaves, but beyond that I thought that I would wait to see what was suggested design-wise by the contours of the stump.
It’s quite a tall stump, and all of the work was to be around the top due to the chances of any lower carvings being blocked by plant growth ~ so it made sense not to get too bogged down with detail, as it wouldn’t be seen from ground level.
Once the woodpecker was set in satisfactorily, I had to decide overnight what would go to the right of it. I took a photo of the area to be carved and pondered later that evening.
The way the trunk protruded vertically on the left and the large lump towards the top suggested something climbing up the tree, so the obvious answer was a squirrel. I decided to utilize the lump by making that the squirrel’s head, with his tail hanging down where the trunk bent forward even more.
A nice spot for lunch!
After the squirrel, the same question arose with the area around the other side; with quite a narrow vertical strip I considered some wild flowers from the species list, but I wondered about the longevity of thin, fragile carved stalks. It had me flummoxed for a while, but then seeking inspiration from the pond (which had kept me amused with the antics of a mother duck and ducklings and a moor-hen and her rapidly-diminishing number of chicks) I plumped for a common newt. This seemed to work well on a few levels as there was a nice balance between the three species, with air, land and water being represented.
I’d ignored any scale issues, just trying to fill the available space the best way I could, but I felt I ought to separate the creatures somehow to make it clear that I do understand that a newt is not the same size as a squirrel. I did this simply by chipping in a recess behind the woodpecker and exaggerating the natural dip or crease to the right of the squirrel. These created a sort of frame effect, so that each element was contained in it’s own area.
Following on from the newt I got to work on the oak and ivy leaves; no real planning again here ~ just a case of looking at the trunk and making the most of any lumps and bumps, or filling any large spaces.
Just as I was about to pack away, I thought it would be nice to have something that could be spotted by small children, and looked for a spot to hide an acorn.
