I frequently title the wading birds I make as ‘shorebird' since they are not always specifically one particular bird. There are many wading birds that are similar and I don’t want to be drawn in to ornithological accuracy at the expense of sculptural form. This one is based on a Whimbrel which is much like a Curlew but smaller and is found most often in the north of Scotland and they are fairly common in Shetland where I come from.

Shetland and the north of Scotland is where I find a lot of my subjects and inspiration. The surround that the bird is placed against is actually from Shetland. It is part of a boat called the Mary Grace, built in Shetland in the 1950s, abandoned after its working life as a small inshore fishing boat (and apparently seal catching too!). I salvaged most of the boat a few years ago on a trip north with my friend Mark Hearld, and I have used precious bits from it in some of my work. You can read a bit more about the 'salvage’ trip in the booklet I enclosed (also on my website). The boat is a traditional Shetland type called a ‘fourareen’ descended from the Norse boats that were once common in Shetland. It is important to me as a relic but the quality of the original paint is special, laid down in countless coats over the decades is impossible to create any other way. LK is the mark for boats registered in Lerwick, Shetland.