made 3 cactii using the mud from Withens Clough Reservoir- silky smooth texture, plain chocolate colour. Armature underneath of twigs & masking tape. The vertical lines are in but chose not to do spines as I dont want them looking too much like the real thing!

The cactii represent a dry , arid, desert landscape- to partner with a Pennine equivalent (The Hushings or somewhere over The 2 Gorples?) of relative harsh , dryness. Also will try it against the harsh but not dry place of its origin. Unfortunately I can’t take these fragile forms out on location, certainly not in their present state as they will break, flop or crumble. Perhaps after a couple of days drying out

Very difficult to photograph , I’ll try again with , hopefully, sunshine plus halogen.

Meanwhile I’ll post this image

and its site of origin

I’m hoping to bring my group from Ravenscliffe here- we wont be able to get on the beach as there are a few wheelchairs, but I love the feel of this place, it’s very windswept, open , elemental. If we can get the mini-bus close and the lane isn’t so enclosed it negates the whole wild experience, we should be ok.

I’ll create a new post now for the Ravenscliffe workshop 2 days ago, where we explored the materials I’ve been collecting…..