Spring in Anthony's sculpturemad garden

 

Two knights riding a creature

Anthony made the body of the creature with three metre long steel angle beads left over from a building project

The opening of our sculpture trail

Anthony opened his two acre sculpture trail in Wylye Valley Art Trail in Wiltshire when a plethora of artist studios were open last week. There was a quiz with the small 6 inch high  sculpture of a bird shown below as a prize to be raffled amongst  the highest scorers. There were four entries with all the questions answered  correctly. After a draw the sculpture was posted to a family in Tisbury 

 One of the questions in the quiz was why is this  frog called  Moby. Nothing to do with Moby Dick. It is covered  in mobile phone dummies.

There were two questions about Toad of Toad Hall in a Willow Tree. Most entrants answered correctly about  the steering wheel that it represented his dangerous driving in the book "Wind in the Willows".But as to  why he was seeking safety up  a tree only a few entrants spotted  the crocodile lurking  nearby. In the  wild they can be hard to spot. The beast is shown below. I accepted  snake  as a correct answer as it could be a giant snake, an anaconda perhaps. There were other answers harking back to the book -scared of the weasels, hiding from the police having crashed his car.

Nearly all entrants got this one right. It is called a Mini Monster because it was the front of a Mini car in previous life before it turned carnivore.

The children were better than adults at answering this one. The snakes on the head are those of Medusa. The question was: why must you only look at this sculpture in the mirror?   There is a mirror nearby. Perseus in Greek mythology decapitated her using the reflection of a polished shield to avoid looking directly at her and being turned  to stone. The head was a broken bit of a vacuum cleaner and the snakes made from twisted pipes.

Under the Owl Tree is Lulu one of the owls. Most entrants  spotted  why it is called that. It was made our of a smashed loo seat. That was found by the road. It had a widow's peak a common feature of owls.

The Scraptors  installed these pyramids pictured below at Stourhead the National Trust garden in Wiltshire to represent the Middle East where local men  fought in the First World War  in particular at Gallipoli. The theme of our trail was "Stourhead will never forget." commemorating the effect of the First World War on the  area.  The symbols on the pyramids represent the nations that fought at Gallipoli: the British,  Commonwealth nations, France, Turkey and Britain.. The pyramids are now placed, a bit decayed, in the sculpture trail. A question in the quiz was which country fighting at Gallipoli was represented by the blue cornflower. The answer was France.

We made a representation of horse's head with a gas mask for  "Arcadia to Armageddon" a 3D mural we created in  the woods at Stourhead the National Trust property in Wiltshire. The ploughing horse morphs into a war horse in the painting. The horse's head lay on the ground in a mask.

In 2018 we were asked to display items from the Stourhead trail at an event in the Close of Salisbury Cathedral in aid of SSAFA the charity for the armed services. The image below shows them there.

 

The cracked helmet on the figure on the left is an actual First World War one found in Anthony's garden which is on the site of an army camp in that war. Everyone got the quiz question right about the horse. It was wearing a mask because of gas attacks which affected horses in that war.

Golden eyed beasts

 Anthony has been adding golden eyed beasts to his two acre  sculpture trail  that will be open in the Wylye Valley Art Trail in        Wiltshire in Wiltshire from May 3rd to May 11th 2025.See:

                               http://wvat.co.uk

Giant head with golden eyes

Giant with golden eyes. Work in progress. Anthony is making this to add to Birdhenge. The snout will become a beak. Quite how to be determined. Mondrian Man on the left and a cockatrice in background looking into the mirror. Birdhenge and cockatrice below.

Paul paints a car at Whitlake Park

Paul recently painted this vintage motor at the wonderful Whitleake Park in Pylle Somerset. Whitelake park is a fascinating cornucopia of art and sculpture. They recently held a graffiti event called White walls , Paul's piece on the car was painted on the final day.
 

Remembrance Day Warminster 2023 display by Susan King and Anthony Wilson

Two sculptures by Scraptor Anthony Wilson dressed  windows in the Organ Inn in Warminster Wiltshire for the passing Remembrance Day parade The  Last Tommy in Memoriam and Horse with a Gas Mask were shown at Stourhead the National Trust garden in a sculpture trail in 2016 commemorating World War 1. He was on display in a stable. They both were displayed in 2018 at a charity event for SSAFA the armed services charity in the Close of Salisbury Cathedral in 2018. Susan King, organiser of the Art Gallery at the Organ painted red poppies on recycled wood for the display.

     

                                                                    

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Above the Last Tommy in Memoriam in the stable at Stourhead in  2016

Below Horse in a Mask in Organ  Inn Window with poppies painted on recycled wood  by Susan King art gallery organiser at the Organ Inn

Above the Last Tommy in Memoriam and Horse with a Gas Mask  Close of Salisbury Cathedral Close                              2018 at a charity event in aid of SSAFA the armed forces charity 

Toad of Toad Hall sitting in a willow tree

Toad of Toad Hall shelters from the wind in a willow tree.

Slava Ukraini

 

FK OFF PUTINOCCHIO

This is inspired by the answer of the Ukrainian border guard Roman Hyrbov on Snake Island in February 2022 ; "Russian warship, go f...k yourself." The warship Moskva was later sunk by the Ukrainians.....Pinocchio's nose  grew longer as he told more lies..... Russian missiles are represented here by a church organ pipe..... Z is plastered all over the Ruzzian tanks and military vehicles... Slava Ukraini is their rallying call....The installation was made by Scraptor Anthony Wilson and can be seen beside a public path in Wiltshire England running from Heytesbury to Knook on the northern bank of the River Wylye, from BA12 0HE to BA120JG. 

 

Nature as a sculptor, a Welsh baby dragon

 

Giant Owl in Wiltshire

Anthony made this owl from a deck of a clapped out  sit on lawn mower. It had gaps caused by rust. But it had the eyes and the widow's peak of an owl. It sits in the beech tree of Stewart Penny Services in Upton Lovell; he repairs and sells garden machinery. It was a thank you present for the gift  by Stewart of bits and pieces for sculpture. Some old Jerry cans from his sheds became golden dogs. See below. The tails are old lawn mower blades. 

Birdhenge filmed by Lighthouse Cat Productions

Lighthouse Cat Productions filmed the Scraptors sculpturemad garden and Birdhenge

Insect and dog in sculpturemad garden

 

The dogs meet the forest creatures in Wiltshire sculpturemad garden

 

The forest is a borrowed landscape, jiejing in Chinese. Snowdrops in the foreground.

Green Man work in progress

This will be a Green Man in the spring when the offshoots of the lime tree will be in leaf. The eyes are Volkswagen hub caps, The edging is an old hosepipe, the mouth the remains of a car boot  and the tongue a car bonnet. The first  aconites  are a harbinger of the spring. 

Paul paints an old London Taxi

 

More of my painting exploits, this time an old 1950s London Taxi. I have been painting at the graffiti event 'Styles of Somerset' held in Glastonbury for a few years but this year I was asked to paint a lovely old London Taxi. I jumped at the chance and I really enjoyed working with the forms of the taxi. The owner had seen my work before and said do what you like which for me is the best way to approach any artwork. The art flowed out easily over the forms and curves of the taxi and I employed a very freestyle layering kind of approach which I think has worked well. The vehicle still runs but had to be towed as it's not currently road legal, it was towed back to its home by  Rolls Royce Silver Ghost which was a sight to see, I will try and upload a film of that when I can as it was quite fun to watch.

Paul paints a Letter L for Salisbury Story Trail

Paul also makes spray paint/graffiti works as well as being part of the Scraptors. He was commissioned by Salisbury council to paint a 3D letter L which made up the word Salisbury with each letter in different locations around the city. Learn more about the Salisbury Story Trail here:https://www.experiencesalisbury.co.uk/salisbury-blog/2021/august/the-salisbury-story-trail/

Paul used elements of the craved heads found at Old Sarum nearby and elements of medieval stonework to create the freestyle graffiti Esque painting which covered the Letter L. The letter itself was made by Signs in Motion of Salisbury who also installed the piece in the city center you can find out more about them here:https://www.instagram.com/signsinmotionltd/.

Here is an article about the story trail in the Salisbury Journal https://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/leisure/19543502.salisbury-story-trail-launches-city-centre/