They are curious companions I know, but in the grounds of Nature in Art there are quite a number of animal sculptures. One I particularly like is a mini rhino, caught in mid stride, thundering towards the cafe. It is also the small, but fierce guardian of a rather nice Cobnut tree.
I should have put a scale on here but he is only about 3 ft high
I liked to get to the Gallery early, before the visitors, and had to walk past this elegant little tree to get to the studio.
My arrival caused much agitation up in the leafy branches which would quiver with a panic of squirrels, all frantically grabbing a nut or two before scampering away.
Should you walk under the tree you will find yourself hobbling over a carpet of the hard little nut cases, opened, chewed and discarded by the squirrels.
I took a few back to the studio to draw when there was a lull in the visitor numbers. I do like their shape and the twisted husks which look like horns.
I don’t know anything about cobnuts except that you can eat them and they are a sort of hazelnut but the Kentish Cobnut Association has info and recipes.
It says that squirrels are quite a pest and can strip a tree in minutes..it doesn’t however say anything about rhinos. 🙂
I also liked the twisted trunk of the tree which seems to be made up of a bunch of small trunks almost twining round each other. I sat sketching by one of the large standing stones, looking over the shoulder of the rhino, which is, I think, as close to a rhino as I will ever get.. The sculptor is Terry Mathews who lives in Nairobi.
Twisted trunk of the Cobnut tree with charging Rhino, pencil. Nature In Art, 4th Aug 2011
Lovely drawings! Your rhino made me think of the James and the Giant Peach rhino, charging along… How odd that I thought of that.
hello, cobnut is just an old fashioned word for hazelnut so i assumed that they were reguler hazels. could be wrong though.