Red Ruby Devon Bull: Elmford Discretion (British Champion Animals Collection)

They are not a large breed, but very solidly built, with a beautiful short curly, almost Claret red coat, with a blonde tip to the tail. They are often polled, but can grow short horns; are long-lived, with good resistance to disease, have an easy-going nature, and are good mothers.

Elmford Discretion’s owners, David and Sally Martin were happy to let me sculpt him, and I arranged to come and photograph him that month. My original intention was to sculpt Discretion in his entirety, but later decided to produce a bas relief head study instead. The reason being, that as a young bull with a lot of growing still to do, he didn’t carry the impressive muscle bulk of a more mature animal. A four or five year old Ruby bull is an entirely different animal to a two year old. I have included a full sculpture of a mature Red Ruby Devon Bull [Yeomadon Ferdinand] in my British Champion Animals collection. But I enjoyed sculpting the wax bas relief, being in a sense, graphic as well as sculptural; I was able to devote more time to rendering the subtleties of his curly red coat than would otherwise have been feasible – great fun!

The patina was an easy choice – it had to be that glorious, plum red of the Ruby’s coat.