WATCHING YOU! – Harris Hawk

Background

The Harris Hawk was named by John Audubon, a famous nineteenth century naturalist.  Although this bird of prey is called a ‘hawk’ it is not actually part of the hawk family, but more closely related to the buzzard family.

My husband loves birds and I have learnt a little over the years from sheer osmosis.  I find myself looking at the sky and in the hedgerows a lot more now, thanks to him and we always have fun identifying shapes in the sky.  Now the children join in the fun and the arguments!

The sculpture

The power, and elegance of this bird of prey intrigued me.  After studying, and drawing Harris Hawks, and taking many photographs, I sculpted this bronze sculpture direct from life.  The birds of prey came from the Hawk Conservancy Trust, in Andover. Whilst everything about the bird conjured up a feeling of fear and menace, the bird also displayed a very gentle, sentimental side to her.   I noticed that whenever her ‘handler’ walked away, she became flustered and on edge.  Even birds have emotions!  This bronze wildlife sculpture is showing the Harris Hawk having just captured her prey.   She was always watching you with intent before she set off.  I have exaggerated the length of her body and feathers to increase the sharpness and power of possession.  Her back is very straight as she crouches down to guard her prey.

I sculpted the bird in wax which is quite a big sculpture to use this medium, given wax becomes very solid on a larger scale and therefore harder to manipulate.   But it grew and grew!  The great thing about wax is that I never need to cover it.   I can constantly walk around the piece and look at the lines.  This bronze wildlife sculpture looks fabulous in bronze as an edition of 9 but can also be cast in bronze resin as a limited edition of 25.   As an almost life-size bronze sculpture, it would best be shown where you can walk all around it.