Beautiful Dilemma. Sold, can be commissioned

Birch Plywood
Hand Carved Original
Length 38cm, Height 30cm, Width 44cm,
This sculpture has sold, but if you would like to commission a similar piece,
please contact me for a quote.

This carving of a lionfish is one of my most ambitious pieces to be carved from birch plywood, which is certainly not the easiest material to work with. It is hand carved after multiple layers have been glued together.

My inspiration for this sculpture came from an encounter I had many years ago. I was free diving on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, and came across a stunningly beautiful black variety of lionfish (on which “Beautiful Dilemma” is based). I even managed to take a photograph of it with my very basic, 35mm underwater camera (it was over 30 years ago!!). I didn’t get too close, as some of the spines are poisonous as part of its defensive system. In more recent years, the lionfish has become an invasive species in some parts of the world, which has made it more than just a problem in terms of how to approach it.