I have been hunkered down concentrating on finishing a major carved Jewel for weeks now. This is carved from pink morganite which has gold units wrapped wround the stone and set with diamonds. I will be posting images of this piece when it is finished in a few days.

I am so fortunate to live in this area. I walked my dog for 30 mins and looked over woods and fields towards the Pen y Fan, at 2,950 feet, the tallest mountain in the Brecon beacons. A pair of red kites circled above our fields and swooped low over my head a few times. The trees here, mainly oak, ash and hazel are changing color for the fall.

As i walked back up the hill to my studio the half moon rose up behind the Oaks behind our house. When I came back I was truly ready to get back to work.

Took all the family to Margam park, nr Port Talbot, South Wales. This is an impressive country park complete with a Castle, Pine and beech woods, landscaped grounds and a ruined Abbey.

We were there as my two boys wanted to buy fossils from the rock, gem and fossil show. This was held in the Orangy. There was a very good selection and the children had a wonderful time. They had saved their pocket money for the last two months and with some small contributions from us they managed to buy 6 great small fossils.

On thursday my wife and I saw a great dance performance at theatr Brycheniog in Brecon nearby. I have been a fan of modern dance from the moment I saw a televised performance by Merce Cunningham when I was 16.

I love the movement that dancers make, especially the way that the bodies create new and unusual forms and patterens. Desigms inspired by dance have been a theme for me throughout the last 28 years of designing.

This was a very powewerful performance. There were two dances. The first “Etude no. 1″ was a solo dance by Lucie Mongrain. Performed on and around a wooden blue rectangle that echoes the sound of the dancers steel tipped shoes. The movements were geometric and machine like. At times rythmic and undulating at other times dislocated and staccato.

Th esecond work was “Chorale”. A work for ten dancers this was very powerful. With chanting, loud vocals and extremes of voice and movement. The dancing was very sexual and sometimes suggestive of violence.

I was impresssed by the work but I must say that I would not want to watch it again.

Compagnie Marie Chouinard are from Montreal, Canada and this show was part of a short tour of Wales.

Andy Eagle from Theatr Brycheniog has brought over a Canadian dance company every year for the last 4 years and we have been to see every performance.

Today is my birthday, I am 43 years old. I have been looking for some time to find and support a charity that I feel can make a difference. After many months of research I have now chosen Kickstart.org as the official charity for Portraits in stone.

Kickstart manufacture and supply small, low cost water pumps that draw water out from under the ground to irrigate farmers fields. This is targetted aid that makes a real difference to people in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

I pledge to donate to buy one water pump for every portrait cameo jewel that is delivered. I also ask my clients to consider making a voluntary matching donation.

Kickstart makes a range of water pumps, ranging from the Hip Pump a small foot operated one that costs only $33 for the farmer. To larger units that can irrigate 1 to 2 acres, enough for a whole families water needs.

Many thousands of entrepreneurial farmers are now irrigating with KickStart’s manual MoneyMaker irrigation pumps and changing their small subsistence farms into vibrant new commercial enterprises.

With irrigation they can grow and sell as many as three to four high value vegetable crops every year, and ensure that the crop is ready for market when the price is high.

These “farmerpreneurs” are increasing their incomes by as much as ten-fold and making as much as 400,000 shillings ($5400) profit per year. KickStart’s low cost micro-irrigation pumps are transforming subsistence farms into highly profitable enterprises. KickStart’s micro-irrigation pumps are available for distribution throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Please take the time to visit Kickstart.org to find out more about this wonderful organisation.
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Deborah Wilson is one of the finest Jade carvers in North America. She lives in Vernon, a lovely small town in the Okanagan, British Columbia, Canada. There is an excellent ski hill at Silverstar nearby, which I have skied at with my family.

I first discovered her work on display in a gallery in Banff, in the Rocky Mountains of Canada. Deborah has carved both small and very large sculptures in Jade, using boulders found in northern British Columbia. You can see examples of her work at her website:deborahwilson.bc.ca

In 1993, Deborah began offering her Jade Carving Workshops
(as advertised in The Lapidary Journal)
Since then, participants from Australia to Nebraska have enjoyed their six days of jade immersion, and part with a good foundation with which to embark on their own ventures. Deborah’s intensive workshops are designed to cover all aspects of hardstone sculpture.

I am hoping to join one of Deborah’s workshops some day as the chance to work with large scale carving would be a real treat for me. I feature more from Deborah Wilson in the resource area of my website in the Gemstone carvers area.

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