Is it a basket? Is it a shark?

No it’s a Basket Shark! hahahahahahhahahaaa #headinhandsatawfulpun

I fell in love with basking sharks when we came very close to one while sailing in the Isles of Scilly when I was a kid. The enormous size, their graceful movement, the soft, flexible skin of their huge jaws and the proud erect tail. What an animal. We seek them out every summer when we go sailing, and they go straight to the ‘top spot’ when we do see them.

So when making a willow basking shark there isn’t a blue print to follow, it is very much a follow your instinct, then make it bigger. It spent a lot of time looking like a huge mackerel, but then the kitten came to help and she told me how to make it more basker and less macker.

Basking sharks are getting more plentiful in Scottish waters but still not back to their pre-hunting levels of profusion.

Sadness honoured.

A beautiful sperm whale was washed up on the western shores of Scotland. The huge animal had suffered a horrific death from entanglement. I felt powerless. Little else I could do but read up on this majestic species and then attempt to make one. I was delighted when it was used to inspire conversations with people attending Belladrum Festival in 2025.