SCULPTOR Nicola Axa from Teigngrace has worked marvels with a lump of Maltese limestone to win a major art prize.

Her hand-carved piece – Large Sea Shell – earned her a first prize of £350 in the Gloucester-based Showborough Sculpture Show.

The work, 60cm high and with a depth and width of 35cm – beat entries from across the UK to scoop the award.

It took two weeks to make and sits on an Ashburton marble base.

Proud Nicola declared: ‘I was delighted to receive it.’

And she revealed: ‘I make shells in various forms and sizes which make beautiful ornaments for indoor or outdoor display, but the main body of my work is carved in Portland stone – mostly figurative consisting of large carved abstract heads inspired by Modigliani, torsos with crystals and coloured glass chakras and Yoga Mudra carved hands.

‘This work is inspired by yoga, meditation and my interests in spiritual development.’

She started out on her chosen craft by joining a carving course with Maria Moorhouse in 2009 while her children were young – and found herself hooked.

‘Stone is an incredible medium and I feel driven to discover its possibilities,’ she said.

At the moment she has several head-turning pieces of work on exhibit at Chepstow’s Wyncliffe Court in south Wales.

Her work has also been selected by The Sculpture Park in Churt, Surrey, for which she is busy making pieces to take there in the autumn.

In between Nicola is exhibiting at the Home and Garden Show on The Bridwell Estate at Cullompton in September and she has a few pieces going into the Big Colyton Art Show in October.

Rounding off the year she will be exhibiting a number of pieces in the Creative Coverage Group Exhibition at Sassoon Gallery, Folkestone, Kent, from November 27 to December 30.