The time had come to have some of my animal sculptures cast in bronze. I chose elephants for the first casting. I visit Africa every couple of years in order to recharge my creative batteries and elephants had always featured heavily on each wildlife trip. Observing natural wild behaviour at close quarters is the best way to get a real understanding of how animals move and communicate in their natural environment.

The mother elephant is sculpted in a gentle and passive mood, but her baby is dashing to catch up, ears flapping in a bit of panic, with tail outstretched signalling wait for me!

When making an elephant sculpture it is important to get the detail right; modelling every fold on the ears and the lines on their body and trunk helps to tell the story; it shows their state of mind.

The clay elephant models were then given to Castle Fine Art Foundry in Stroud to be moulded and cast in wax. I visited the foundry to refine the wax cast before it was cast into bronze. The next step was applying the patina. This is quite a dangerous process involving acid and a blow torch. I chose a rich and warm traditional patina. This really helps the detail in the sculpture to sing.

These bronze elephant sculptures are in a limited edition of nine. The mother elephant sculpture is 18″ from tail to tusk x 11″ high. The baby elephant sculpture is 9½” long x 4½” high.