Octopus Chestnut Burr Sculpture

This octopus sculpture is hand carved from a single piece of very unique and beautiful sweet chestnut burr (burl). If possible I like to carve my sculpture from one piece of wood to maintain the integrity of the figuring in the wood. This is technically very challenging as no mistakes can be made, and consequently the design has to be very carefully planned and executed. I designed this sculpture so that it hugs the stone base very closely and reflects the sinuous quality of the octopus. When I used to work with dolphins, I was also charged with looking after the aquarium section where we had some large tanks with local fish species. One of the most popular residents was a curled octopus. Absolutely fascinating; I would spend hours watching this amazing cephalopod stalking and attacking crabs. When I came across this particular piece of timber, the figuring within the burr was beautiful and I immediately knew that it was this sculpture I wanted to carve from it.