MRS DARLING – Head of a Sheep (Life-size)

Mrs Darling is a pet Zwartbles sheep who we had with us for several years.  She used to come into the house, loved horse feed, pasta, bread – basically any food other than sheep pellets!  She wandered around the garden eating all the flowers and grass.  She then wondered why she was banished to the stable at night rather than our house.  Perhaps she felt more human than sheep!

She was old and wise, and had an amazingly expressive face to go with it.  I would constantly draw and photograph her face in order to try and capture her spirit, which I found hard to achieve!  I then decided to create a  sculpture of her face, in clay, and this made me stay in the yard for hours and hours either with my camera, clay or pad and pens.  As a result, I produced this bronze wildlife sculpture of her head – even though  she was more of a pet!  Certain features I have exaggerated.  For instance, her extraordinary ears which were always moving in opposite directions to one another.  Then there were her huge, staring eyes, always watching your every move in total silence.  Lastly, there was the wonderful textural contrast from her black smooth face to her big thick body of fur.

This is a life size bronze of a sheep’s head, which I have positioned on a thin, dark, metal stand to minimise distraction from her face.  It’s at eye level and looks very striking in the corner of a room.  It looks great with contemporary or antique surrounds, or in the garden or a court yard.  It’s not a wildlife bronze sculpture which you need to walk all the way around, so it can be positioned in a corner or viewed front on.