Panthera Pardus

The most awesome and graceful of cats, the leopard is one of my favourite animals. Living in South Africa for some forty years, for the first 30 years I had never seen a leopard in the wild. Then on a trip to Eagle’s nest in Botswana, we saw at least two different leopard on every game drive over four days.

So I decided to do a small bronze of a male leopard sleeping on a dead leadwood tree.

This is number 2 of a limited edition of 15, each signed and numbered.

Price: $2340

I’ve always wanted to do an animal in full flight, so a cheetah is the perfect subject. It’s amazing how focused they are - their head always upright regardless of the acute angles it takes the corners.

This cheetah of mine, is in full flight, but it’s intended prey has cornered the other way, so this moment is just before it changes direction, leaning over to the opposite side - all in a blur of movement. You literally have to take a photograph or study this kind of moment in extreme slow motion. Imagine what artists had to do before the invention of the camera to capture a moment in time.

This is now a finished piece, mounted on a perspex base, with all the weight on one foot planted in the ground - and I am delighted with the end result.

Standing at 16cms, the body length is 25cms and nose to tail is 42cms.

This is a series of 15 and the next in the series is 7/15.

Price: $2880

The first six are in private collections in various parts of the world from the West Indies to Denver to Wiltshire, and three in SA. The silver piece is also a private collector, and gives a good example of how a solid silver sculpture comes out. I kept it roughly polished so as to retain the detail (light and shadow)

The most beautiful of eagles, the African Fish Eagle is large and majestic in flight with a wingspan of up to 2 meters for the male, and 2.4 meters for the female. They have a hauntingly distinctive call, which simply represents Africa. Catching fish in a spectacular manner ‘on the wing’ which is a sight to behold.

This is a small sculpture, a fish eagle taking off from a leadwood tree, it stands 30cms high with a wingspan of 22cms.

One of the more difficult commissions I have done, due to the detail, which using the lost wax method of casting requires a lot of cleaning up and metalwork for each bronze.

This is number 2 of a limited edition of 15.

Larger commissions welcome!

Price: $1800

The ground pangolin, also known as Temminck's pangolin or Cape pangolin, is one of four species of pangolins which can be found in Africa, and the only one in southern and eastern Africa. The animal was named for the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck.
This was such a challenge to do - once the shape was established I carved each scale (about 250) and scored them with the little lines you find on a pangolin’s scales. The most incredibly satisfying thing for me is to ‘tile’ them onto the body, and there is only one way they go. When you see these creatures in the wild it is amazing to see how flexible they are - not like some restrictive armourplate but a really lithe flexible coating of armour. Amazing creatures - on this planet for some 45 million years.
This is now complete, and is a series of 15 - each signed and numbered, This one being 2/15.

Price: $2700

What beautiful animals. I can watch them for hours. This bronze is unusual in terms of subject. Three elephant, a massive bull, a cow and her baby (trying to copy her) would never normally be in a configuration all together. The bull would be apart from the herd led by a matriarch, but I found this arrangement of the three very charming as a family group.

Available as mother and baby - or as the group of three.

Mother and baby will be a series of 15 - each bronze signed and numbered, and the group of three will also be a series of 15, each signed and numbered. This is number 2/15

Price: $4680

On the subject of Wildebeests - what funny animals they are. Noel Coward poked fun at them with his song “I’m a Gnu” - which is the popular term (outside of Africa it seems). They have a look to them that is endeering. Ugly to some, but they do seem to be unusually put together. A loping run, or a panicked stampede in the case of the Masai Mara migration. They have this hump of fat and muscle over their shoulders, and rather small hindquarters in comparison. Long faces, very unique noses with a large flap of indented flesh, rather than the usual protruding nose that everyone else seems to have. I’m sure (because nature always has a plan) that it is for a very good evolved reason, but it looks odd.

And there they stand and watch, and watch and watch, body sideways, in that classic pose, and then they bolt.

And if you want to see them in all their flying glory, you must google the migration in the Masai Mara in Kenya. Having to leap across a crocodile infested Mara river in flood to get to the feeding grounds in the Serengeti plains in the south. (See Wildebeest 2 leaping)

This is number 2/15

Price $4860

Cape Buffalo (Syncerus cafer cafer)

The Cape Buffalo. nicknamed Black Death as it is one of the most dangerous animals in Africa. Known for it’s ruthless aggression in the face of threat, this animal attacks fires and kills over 200 people a year in the African continent.
series of 15 - signed and numbered.

The next one available will be 5/15

Price: $2970

The African Scops owl (Otus senegalensis) is a small owl which is widespread in sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of the smallest owls measuring around 15–17 cm in length with a wingspan of 45 cm. This owl of mine is sleeping but with an ever watchful feeling (maybe peeping through the bottom of the closed lids for that illusive mouse running past. However in this state the incredibly sharp hearing will be on full alert.

This is number 6 of a series of 15 (each signed and numbered).

Price: $2970

Diceros Bicornis - the ‘Hook Lipped’ - Black Rhinoceros is an awesome and awe inspiring animal. Beware his temper, and his incredible speed and agility when it comes to exercising that temper! The pre-hensile lip for plucking leaves from bushes and trees, is the most notable characteristic compared with it’s cousin the white or square lipped Rhino. It is smaller in size than the white rhino, but more formidable as it is much more aggressive of the two.

I’ve always wanted to sculpt a rhino, ever since I bought William Kentridge’s one and only Rhino charcoal and chalk masterpiece back in the mid 80’s. So I have finally got round to it, and made this part of my renaissance movement.

With sculpting animals, as with humans, no two are the same - you can see from the photographs of Black Rhinos how their body shapes, their musculature, and their proportions change according to age and environment.

This bronze is now complete, mounted on a black granite base, and I am delighted with the end result. I love the movement, and the feeling of weight with this piece - something that is very important to me.

Standing 16.5cms at the shoulder, and 30 cms in length, this bronze will also be a series of 15, each signed and numbered. The next one will be 2/15

Price: $2880

The giant eland (Taurotragus derbianus), also known as the Lord Derby eland, is an open-forest and savanna antelope. A herbivore, eating grasses, foliage and branches, they usually form small herds consisting of 15–25 members, both males and females. Giant elands are not territorial, and have large home ranges. They are naturally alert and wary, which makes them difficult to approach and observe, and they can run at up to 70 km/h (43 mph) and use this speed as a defence against predators.

This was a commission and part of a growing collection of wildlife which are in realtive size to each other (Wildebeest, Lord Derby Eland, Bongo, Cape Buffalo, with many others still to come - Sable Antelope, Roan Antelope, Kudu, Cape Eland)

This is the first departure from ‘realistic’ into something a bit free-er in terms of style.

Series of 15 all signed and numbered, with this being the 2nd

Price: $4680

The southern masked weaver (Ploceus velatus), or African masked weaver, is a resident breeding bird species common throughout Southern Africa.

This weaver is very widespread and found in a wide range of habitats, including shrubland, savanna, grassland, open woodland, inland wetlands and semi-desert areas. It also occurs in suburban gardens and parks.

This was a commission for the 2020 grade 7 boys leaving the Ridge School, and was donated to the school in 2021.

This was designed as an installation, with the nest hanging from a bronze branch (with a steel rod inside) that could subtly bounce in the wind, carrying the weight of the nest and bird on the end, and hanging over flowing water.

It turned out even better than I imagined, and so gratifying to have something in a semi public space.

This is also part of the overall bronze collection, and is a series of 15 each signed and numbered.

This is number 3/15

Price: $2970

It’s funny how things work out. This sculpture evolved from the standing Wildebeest commission. I didn’t have enough wax for the big one, so I tried out a smaller version, to have a look at the physiology. When the wax arrived, I decided to evolve this standing figure into a leaping wildebeest from the migration in the Masai Mara Kenya.

That is such a dramatic scene - great herds of wildebeest forging the river Mara - leaping wildly into the rushing waters, with huge crocodiles lying in wait. There is such a frenzied wildness about this scene.

The body length of this bronze is 26cms, with a height that is approximately 18cms. This animal will be leaping off some rocks, (which will be the only place where the bronze is anchored). The rocks will be on a heavy cube of granite, so the effect will be a spectacular leap into the void. I really want to represent the leap these wildebeests make when they launch into the Mara river.

This is also a series of 15, each signed and numbered, with the next available being 3/15

Price: $2970

One of the most majestic of all the antelope, the Sable. Nature is crazy - have you seen the Sable bulls fight - they literally go down on their knees and engage with their horns like that. Maybe it’s because they would do serious damage if they ran at each other, but it seems that they are the only antelope to fight this way.

This is a commission. Total series run of 15.

this one is number 2/15.

Price: $4500

A commission, this is my largest buffalo to date measuring 45 cms nose to tail. A proper dagga boy, the boss and horns were faithfully reproduced to an existing trophy (size and detail relative to body size) They are such powerful animals, with a fearsome temper, and are extremely quick and agile in contrast to their seemingly slow bovine ‘look’. Nicknamed ‘black death’ in Africa.

This is the third in a series of 15 (signed and numbered)

Price: $4500

The tree pangolin (Phataginus tricuspis) from central and Western Africa is the cousin of the ground pangolin found here in South African. Ironically the animal behind our lock-down, as it is supposed to be the last animal carrier of the covid 19 virus before it jumped to humans. Not to be blamed in any way - it is us who are at fault. (These animals are on the endangered list, as they are highly prized by the ‘East’ for their keratin scales.)

This is a must have for any sculpture collection.

A series of 15 each signed and numbered. The next in the series will be 3/15.

Price: $2500

The bongo (Tragelaphus eurycerus) is a herbivorous, mostly nocturnal forest ungulate.

Bongos are characterised by a striking reddish-brown coat, black and white markings, white-yellow stripes and long slightly spiralled horns. Bongos are the only tragelaphid in which both sexes have horns. They have a complex social interaction and are found in African dense forest mosaics. Native to Africa, they are the third-largest antelope in the world.

This is such a little known antelope, but it is such a shy and beautiful creature, living in the forest, and venturing out into pasture in the evening light.

This is a series of 15, signed and numbered. The next one in the series being 2/15

Price: $4860

One of the earth’s most unique evolutionary species, is also the world’s most trafficked mammal.

The Pangolin. (Manis penta-dactyla dalmanni)

They have been around for over 45 million years, and then a genetic split was understood to have happened some 23 million years ago between the Asian and African Pangolin.

They sit in the carnivore group of animals even though they don’t have any teeth, but eat mainly insects and grubs. They are scaly anteaters.

The Pangolin as a species are the most trafficked animals on the planet (their meat is highly prized, and their scales purported to have healing properties). The Chinese traditional medicine market consumes 135 000 tons of pangolins annually.

Think of this - each adult pangolin eats on average 70 million insects a year, so imagine if we took them out of the circle of life!!!
The Chinese government needs to get real and stop treating the planet like a ‘consumable’. (However - we are all to blame for that one.)
This animal represent our relationship with our environment - Mother earth - Gaia, so let’s maybe start to live our lives with that in mind.

We need a symbiotic relationship with our planet.

This will be a series of 15 bronzes, each signed and numbered. the next available in the series is 2/15

Price: $2340

Such majestic beautiful animals - King of the jungle. They command respect and are to be feared. Nothing predates on them (with the exception of other lions, territorially, and man) This was a commission, but it is also a limited series of 15 - each signed and numbered.

This is number 3/15

Price: $5130

The giraffe (Giraffa) is a genus of African even toed ungulate mammals, the tallest living terrestrial animals and the largest ruminants (mammals that are able to acquire nutrients from plant-based food by fermenting it in a specialized stomach prior to digestion, principally through microbial actions.)

The most graceful and beautiful animals - always seemingly so chilled and sedate. But in the right circumstances they can be truly formidable. You only have to witness a fight between two males to understand the incredible power of these animals. They use their head like a club - with the two horns and third central protrusion on their forehead making contact, and then use the length of their neck to build speed and momentum of the blow. They continue clubbing each other relentlessly until one of them realises it is beaten or maybe one falls to the ground, unconscious. They remain stunned on the ground, vulnerable to predators, but only for a few minutes, and then they get up as if nothing has happened and wander off.

I often try different patinas, so you will see the darker patina, and then I did another version closer to the honey colour of the giraffe.

This is be a limited edition of 15 - each numbered and signed.

The next available one in the series will be 3/15

Price: $2700

The white rhinoceros or square-lipped rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) is the largest extant species of rhinoceros. It has a wide mouth used for grazing and is the most social of all rhino species.

A series of 15 each signed and numbered.
Next in series 3/15

Price: $2970

A feisty and brave animal of the African bush, which when threatened by a predator will often turn and fight. This is a larger version of my first Warthog, commissioned by a collector in the UK. It is a series of 15, the next being 2/15, signed and numbered.

Price: $2520

This is a pair of Greywing Francolin startled into flight. Running in low cover first before taking to the air.

A series of 15, all signed and numbered.

This is number 2 in the series.

Price:$3870

The Caracal (Felis caracal) is a very private animal - typically nocturnal, and preys on rodents small mammals and birds. Being a cat, it has the caracteristic rotational spine, which allows it to twist in the air and land on it’s feet. It can leap as high as three meters when catching a bird, which is incredible given it’s size.

In this bronze I have tried to capture this twist, as it is startled by a bird taking off behind it, and it leaps, twists and in a lighting reaction reaches out to catch the bird mid-flight.

This is a series of 15, signed and numbered. The next will be 2/15.

Price: $1890

The elephant is one of my favourite animals - I could spend hours watching these amazing pachyderms, but as happens with most experiences in the bush, you get to watch for a few minutes and then move on. My best time has been on foot, although you really need to be with someone who knows what they are doing.

I was an young assistant director on a film in Zimbabwe (Hwange game reserve) and we were filming a scene of a hundred elephants coming down to a water hole. We had a famous welsh actor, John Rhys-Davies, who had broken his ankle on a previous film, so it was in a cast, and he understandably couldn’t move very fast.

He was playing the role of a hunter, and in this particular scene he had to stand there, holding his gun as this herd approached. That is a pretty explosive situation, as anyone who knows elephants would understand.

Elephants - especially in a herd with their young, do not take kindly to humans on foot, and especially when they are next to the waterhole they are headed towards, and wielding a gun! The ‘safety officer’ in charge of this scene was a hunter, Viv Bristow from Zimbabwe, who turned out to be amazing at reading the mood of the herd, and the powerful matriarch who was leading them. The director of the film wanted John to raise his gun at the advancing herd as if to take a shot! The matriarch, seeing the threat, charged him, and amazingly he kept his cool, and stood his ground. (I suppose with an ankle in a cast it would have been difficult to run!) Cool as anything Viv stepped forward and lifted his arms and shouted, and she stopped dead in her tracks, and like that the situation was diffused. What an awesome introduction to an elephant in the wild.

I had a lot of fun making this elephant as you can see from the photograph on the heading of this website. My first bronze in motion. Everytime I make a bronze I learn from my mistakes - as would be expected. I had this cast as a solid bronze (not hollow) with a granite base, and it is amazingly heavy! When I cast the next in this series I don’t think it will be completely solid!

This bronze stands 19 cms from the granite base it stands on to it’s shoulder, and 33 cms tusk to tail.

The series is limited to 15 each bronze signed and numbered, with the next available being 5/15

Price: $3960

The Mountain Gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei)

They are ground-dwelling, predominantly herbivorous apes that inhabit the forest of central Sub-Saharan Africa. The genus Gorilla is divided into two species: the eastern gorillas and the western gorillas (both critically endangered), and either four or five subspecies. They are the largest living primates. The DNA of gorillas is highly similar to that of humans, from 95 to 99% depending on what is included, and they are the next closest living relatives to humans after the chimpanzees and bonobos.

When you watch them closely they have such human expressions, and display a similar range of emotions. Powerful, and to be totally respected.

This is a series of 15, with the next one available to be 2/15

Price: $1800

The Leopard - Panthera Pardus. You can never tire of watching these beautiful cats. Sleek, graceful, and immensely powerful, able to lift their kill (sometimes their own bodyweight) up into a tree with ease, to protect it from scavengers and other predators.

This predator is distinguished by its well-camouflaged fur, opportunistic hunting behaviour, broad diet, strength, and its ability to adapt to a variety of habitats ranging from rainforest to steppe, including arid and mountanous areas.

This is a series of 15 signed and numbered bronzes.

Price: $2160

There is so much character in the bush.

Each animal has it’s own definite ‘character’, and their looks and ‘body language’ very much tell their story.

The Warthog is such an obvious family group - mother with her children and father not far away. They fiercely protect their young against all predators, who get a nasty shock when messing with this doughty little animal. Upright, stout, proud, and full of heart.

This is one of the smallest bronzes, standing 7.5 cms at it’s shoulder and 13.5 cms nose to bottom.

This is a series of 15, the next in the series is 3/15.

Price: $810

I have always been fascinated by the visual power of the game. polo ponies thundering down the field, mallets ready to strike. So after my horse, I decided to venture into this world of equestrian sport, starting with a maquette of what is intended to be a much larger piece - life-sized or even double life-sized.

The detail needed is pretty fine, and there I am trying to move away from detail and be free-er. However it has been really interesting getting as close to authenticity as the medium will allow.

This is the second in the series, the first being sold to a South African polo player of distinction!

The series is of 15 pieces, each signed and numbered.

Next available in the series is 3/15

Price: $3600

The Tiger (Panthera Tigris)

This was a commission - Two fighting tigers, and what a potentially potent piece, given the subject matter.

These cats are immensely powerful when they fight over territory, or a female.

The whole sculpture will have a footprint of around 60cms with a height of around 35cms.

This is also a series of 15, each signed and numbered, with the next in the series being 2/15

Price: $5400

Australopithecus africanus is an extinct species of australopithecine which lived from 3.67 to 2 million years ago in the Middle Pliocene to Early Pleistocene of South Africa. The species has been recovered from Taung and the Cradle of Humankind at Sterkfontein, Makapansgat, and Gladysvale.

This was a very unusual commission to be asked to do. Early man was very hairy which was a challenge, but I am very pleased with the outcome, as is my original client, and other subsequent collectors.

This is a limited series of 15 with this one being 5/15

Price: $4770

This was my first animal that was cast (Bronze Age foundry in Simons town Cape Town). Such a classic pose for this magnificent antelope - head up, ears fully alert, and those horns twisting upwards in perfect symmetry.

Our own ‘Monarch of the Glen’ in Africa - the Kudu is found wild, all over South Africa.

It stands 19 cms high to the tip of the horns.

A limited series of 15, each signed and numbered, this series is up to edition 8/15

Price: $1260

There are about 180 species of chameleons in the wild throughout the world. Such an interesting animal (or reptile) - slow moving, stealth-like creature with the ability to change it’s colour to suit it’s immediate environment. The master of camouflage. They are so hard to spot - in fact the best time to see one is at night when your torchlight reflects it’s eyes back at you.

Their eyes act like telephoto lenses, zooming in on a prey to check it out, and then launching that sticky tongue to ensnare the wretched insect!

Very effective as hunters despite their slow movement.

My bronze is quite a naive representation, but what I was really interested in was it’s wide stance on a branch, and representing the ‘feeling’ of the Chameleon rather than faithful detailing. As I develop as a sculptor I will be pushing more for the right attitude of the animal, rather than the detailing.

If the attitude of the animal and the feeling you get from it is wrong, then the bronze is wrong. You should be able to glance at it from any angle and see this - what I call ‘attitude’.

It’s about balance, poise, weight distriibution - attitude!

Another series of 12 but unfortunately this series is SOLD OUT

This is a classic pose, a leopard crouching down relaxed, muscles bunched, the tip of it’s tongue lapping at the water. Ever watchful, keeping clear of other predators, but watchful more for the opportunity of an unsuspecting animal straying too close to the water.

The bronze footprint is 22cms long by 13cms wide (as the leopard is sitting on a bed of rocks) and as a series of 15, each signed and numbered.

The next available in this series is 7/15

Price: $1800

This bronze was inspired by a famous sleeping lion of Lucerne (see photo). Such awe inspiring animals, such power, but when they are sleeping, you are tempted to go and stroke them - but best not to. My first ever bronze was a lions head, but it remains a wax - to remind me of humble beginnings! It was too expensive to cast into a bronze at the time. The power of these awesome majestic creatures will be the subject of my next bronze.

The dimensions are 15 cms long, and 5 cms from base to top of mane.

This is a series of 15 each signed and numbered, and the next in the series is 6/15

Price:$810

This is an interesting subject - a horse bolting and rearing. Not strictly African, but was requested by a client living on an equestrian estate, with the next horse subject to be a polo player.

A series of 15, each signed and numbered, the next in the series is 2/15

Price: $2610

A very special commission - A Cocker spaniel - not exactly in the category of African Wildlife, although Bella is African by birth!

Price: $1890

This is a very much loved dog of my Brother-in-Law’s - Billy.

I have two dogs to my sculpting repertoir, and I realise that these are affairs of the heart, so I will leave it that commissions are welcome.

Billy’s Price would be $2700

Bronzes of Africa wouldn’t be complete without this Universal icon of humanity.

I started this mask of Nelson Mandela two months before he died, and after his passing I have left it as a work-in-progress, to take it up once more when I feel right to do so. What a great man, completely inspiring with his firm unwavering rhetoric about peace in South Africa, dignity for all and the exclusion of no-one.

I had the privilege of spending time with him on two occasions in the early 90’s.

The first occasion was when I spent a day with him in a studio in Wineberg, interviewing him on camera for a documentary. My over-riding impression was ‘what a gentleman’. After 27 years on Robben Island, here was this man with rhetoric that included all South Africans. (I, in fact was only made a citizen in 1993).

The second occasion was when Chris Harni had just been assassinated, and Nelson Mandela was to address the nation to appeal for calm. I was called and asked to come to Shell house with suitable equipment for this address to the nation. Quite why they wanted me to do this remains a mystery, but also for me a great an honour.

I did speak to Madiba on a third occasion when I was on the same flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg, and I asked him if I could make a bronze of him. He didn’t refuse the request, but referred me to talk to the Nelson Mandela Trust. Unfortunately they never got back to me.

Not to be rushed - I want to do justice to a piece of art that honours this great leader and world icon.