Piles of driftwood of all different shapes and sizes are scattered throughout the rooms of Linda Davison’s Bournemouth home.

On the sideboard, a vase is filled with pebbles of varying sizes, and more boxes – all sorted according to size – are lined up on the kitchen table.

Linda, 53, began picking up the pieces of wood when out walking her two dogs, Dougie and Noodles, and, before long, was inspired to do something creative with her finds.

“I can’t help but pick them up because of the tactile-ness of them, and collecting lots and not really knowing what to do with them,” smiled Linda, who is also a keen photographer.

“One of the first things I did was fill up vases with pebbles and bits of wood. That’s where I displayed them to start with, it spilled over from there. Then one day a piece of wood looked like a dog’s nose – I thought ‘I could make a dog out of this’. You look in your box to make the other bits. It just evolved.”

In March this year, Linda, who lives in Queen’s Park, began creating an image of a dog on canvas using wood she had collected. The hobby soon expanded – and took over her home.

She initially made the pictures for herself or friends, but her confidence grew with positive feedback and she ended up creating so many of the different images that she recently held her first successful exhibition at a gallery in Christchurch.

“It was such a wonderful experience and I had lots of amazing comments in my comment book,” she said.

“I did penguins at the exhibition, which sold really well and I did a pram – it was just two figures and this little pram, because I thought the shape of the stone looked like an old fashioned Silver Cross pram.

“Now I want to really expand on it all and try and get them along the coastline as far as Fowey in Cornwall. I think there would be some galleries down there that I would like to have them in.”

Linda prides herself on not changing the shape of any of the pieces of wood she finds, which means many of her pictures take a while to complete.

“The fish took ages to get the right shape,” she said.

“You go to different parts of the coast and get different colours and shapes and textures. It’s the same with the pebbles – when I did the feet pictures I knew I had to go to Swanage, because that was the particular shape of the pebbles.

“Other times I will wake up at 5 o’clock in the morning and think ‘I’m going to make this’. I come downstairs and would have made something before anyone else gets up.”

Linda, who prices the canvases from £65 to £285, is also working on a collection of heart shapes made from corks to be used as a wedding keepsake.

“The idea is that the corks popped on the day of the wedding, I would like to make them into bespoke hearts,” she explained.

“I’ve also made Scrabble pictures and I’m going to make some spoon jewellery. I’ve started to make little mice out of pebbles to put on cheeseboards.

“My mind never stops, I’m always thinking of something else to make. Being creative with things is very satisfying and it’s so lovely to find something you enjoy doing.”

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