Nearly 22 years and 14 exhibitions after his first show with us in our Salisbury gallery, Guy has produced a body of work which I can confidently say is collectively superb. Taplin’s working life is, like that of many artists, a solitary one and I often wonder at the dedication to one’s art required to go to “the office” every day to work alone.

Fortunately, Guy’s main workshop is in the garden of his cottage in Essex and so he can “nip out” for a cuppa or pop down the road for a chat with a mate. His chalet, down on the coast near St Osyth, is a more isolated spot where he can peacefully contemplate the finishing stages of a piece. However, the early stages in the making process are fairly physical but, at 68, he retains all the enthusiasm for his art that struck me on our first meeting in 1985.

Prior to taking up bird carving over 30 years ago, Guy’s life had been, to say the least, an interesting and varied one -- and one about which I have written a fair amount in the past. I can truly recommend, therefore, to anyone interested in the life and work of Taplin to get a copy of the new book on him, ‘Bird on the Wire’. It really is the most readable tome -- informative, amusing and the photography is marvellous.

There are nearly 40 pieces in this exhibition including a fabulous blue boat panel with flying sanderlings, a vertical pole with six woodpeckers of varied types, a wonderful group of godwits and several individual birds with a distressed paint finish, reminiscent of the work of the 19th/early 20th century U.S. eastern seaboard decoy makers such as Elmer Crowell and Nathan Cobb, whose work was such an influence on Guy in the early days.

Enough from me. Guy Taplin is now an internationally renowned artist for very good reasons. Come and see why for yourself.

Ian Courcoux

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