Artist Clive Cooper knows how to use his melon when it comes to carving sculptures out of fruit. He works as a full-time government clerk during the day, but at night he turns common watermelons into works of art.
Having perfected his skills carving pumpkins, Clive says the fruity faces are so life-like because of his painstaking attention to detail.
But there is just one problem, he has to work fast because they last just 24 hours before they shrivel up and lose their shape.
The magnificent pieces of art, which may take up to six hours to carve, are motivated by sci-fi movies and comic novels.
“I used to carve pumpkins, but I couldn’t get the results I truly wanted because the inside don’t have enough structure,” Clive, 54, said.
“I like to use watermelons because they have green, white and red colouring where as with pumpkins you only have orange to work with.
“Working with the different colours allowed me to create an interesting visual effect.
“I watch tv programmes and films and develop ideas from there. Comic books can also be very inspiring as they are full of expression.”
The Canadian artist from Vancouver first defines the contours of his watermelon miracles with a scraping instrument before smoothing out the edges with a knife.
He said: “I love the creative process you can make just from a piece of fruit.
“I’ve done loads already but the possibilities are endless – I’ll keep going until I exhaust them all.’
Clive, who works as a full-time government clerk, has been asked to carve the watermelons for weddings and parties as decoration.
He said: “It’s good to be able to give them something from something I like doing so much. People prefer to have something special and distinctive at their celebration gatherings.
“Watermelons are refreshing because you can carve them all year round – you can only really work with pumpkins for Halloween.
“And they’re much more delicious than pumpkins to eat – we eat a lot of watermelon in my house!”
