The Skylark Clerk is a needle-felted narrative wildlife sculpture created during my return to work in a new studio, after an extended period away.

The needle felted Skylark proved unexpectedly insistent. I had a clear image of him from the outset, yet each attempt to impose it met resistance. Directions I planned — a wing resting on the desk, a carefully made bowler hat — were quietly refused by the form itself. His balance faltered, proportions felt wrong, and even his crest rejected the hat I had spent hours constructing. Eventually, I stopped insisting and allowed the piece to lead instead.