The Marks Hall Sculpture Trail #art #inspiration #fantasy #scifi

During the holidays, a local stately home and garden ran an extra exhibition - a sculpture trail with more than 300 pieces from 59 national and international sculptures set in their extensive grounds. A couple of friends had already posted some pictures from the trail - a mirrored portal which immediately got my attention - so we decided to give it a go. It would take me weeks to post all the images, so instead I've hand-picked a few with a scifi theme/feel to them and a few of my absolute favourites. Warning: some nudity.

Not a sculpture but a real life dragonfly

First of two sculptures called Serenity.

Greer - Guardian Angel

My monsters re-enact a scene from Primeval - running for the portal home!

One of a pair of Portal sculptures.

Abstract torso

another abstract torso

another Portal

If you prefer fantasy to scifi, a gateway in wood

and a hanging chair.

Nebula I

Nebula II

Fracture

The Three Graces

Fusion

Not a sculpture, but Marks Hall's Australia zone, planted up with appropriate
trees and grasses. Really felt like we'd stepped out of the UK!

The Family Group

Pollen (large) and Pollen (small)

Sputnik

another Serenity

Pollen Bomb

Either Or

Ribbon

Ammonite Outside

Reminds me of an episode of Doctor Who - The Keeper of Traken

Another Doctor Who-esque piece - The Face of Evil

And by the last few, I've not been able to memorize the names. Sorry! I hope you might find some story inspiration in amongst those.

Chook Update
I've been trying to find new forever homes for our five boys, now two months old. Unfortunately our eldest - Bailey - started crowing at the weekend (some three months before they're supposed to) so they needed to go asap before he really found his voice and/or his brothers got the idea too. I was hoping to find them homes as pets but they'll probably go to a generic sanctuary instead. Unfortunately the sanctuary requires a £20 donation per bird, so at the moment I'm only able to rehome two of them to there. I also removed Mama Effie and returned her to her adult sisters. I felt bad but both babies and mama don't seem too upset about it. Here's Effie and her boys enjoying a final family dust bath together.

As for the new chicks... Sadly egg number three failed to hatch despite the chick being fully developed. Marvel and Firefly are now two weeks old and testing their wings. We know they aren't frizzles but they're definitely a feisty little pair, having not been handled as much as the previous babies.

Marvel (left) and Firefly (right)

And a little video of Mama Pitch with the new babies.