UPDATE – The auction is now closed and raised £6200 for urgent conservation work in Australia’s fire ravaged back country. Thanks to everyone who contributed.

We have all watched with horror the apocalyptic scenes playing out in Australia. Millions of hectares of unique habitat has been burned to the ground and much of the native wildlife has been tragically lost.

I felt compelled to help in the best way I can, through my art by offering you the chance to win a koala sculpture with joey (baby). This sculpture would sell for about 2500 GBP if it were offered for sale in a gallery or through my website. It is still unfired but will be glazed, fired and finished before heading off to meet its new owner.

I have never made a koala sculpture before and I discovered they don’t follow the normal rules governing the dimensions of facial features. Oh, and their feet are extraordinary! They have five toes on their front feet which separate into three and a two in order to allow them to grasp tree branches. Their back feet have an opposable thumb and four toes but two of these are fused to form one digit which has two nails! This is their grooming toe.

I sculptured a young joey riding on the back of its mother, which is the main form of transport for a joey once it emerges from the pouch at around 6-7 months old. It took me the best part of a week to sculpt this koala, because I had to familiarise myself with all its idiosyncrasies. Koalas are surely one of the cutest animals I have made and the baby is simply outrageous!

You still have a chance to win a koala sculpture and joey simply by visiting my Just Giving page and entering the draw. All proceeds will be donated to WWF which is funding wildlife rescue and rehabilitation as well as habitat restoration and tree planting.

I have been posting updates on social media and started with a Guess the Animal post when the sculpture was only 20 minutes old. I was inundated with guesses, ranging from my brother (!) to a wombat. You’ll find making videos and time-lapse of the koala sculpture on my Facebook page or you can find out more on Twitter and Instagram.

Please help me get the word out and share this with your friends. You never know. You could be the one to win a koala sculpture. The draw will take place on Valentine’s Day 14th February 2020.