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A North Wales chainsaw artist has transformed a bunch of tree trunks into a magnificent dragon.

Tree carver Simon O’Rourke - who hit the headlines recently when he carved the famous 'Bethesda dragon' overlooking the A5 - created his latest masterpiece at the Huskycup event in Mulda, Germany last month.

The competition's theme this year was dragons and teams of artists were given total freedom to work with their imaginations and create a beautiful beast out of wood.

The artists are given seven days to complete their sculpture, often working up to 10 hours a day on their pieces.

Simon, from Wrexham, and his carving partner Kejie Kedokoro, a top Japanese artist, worked together to produce an sculpture to marry both traditional Eastern designs and Western interpretations together.

(Image: Simon O’Rourke)

Simon said: “I wanted to do the design, it was largely my idea with Kejie adding traditional Japanese elements.

"However, areas such as the face and the wings were Western designs.

“There were lots of elements coming together to represent both origins together.

“I was really happy with the end result, Kejie has even invited me out to work on some projects with him in Japan.”

Simon is a well known chainsaw artist whose previous work includes the magnificent dragon guarding the A5 in Gwyenedd.

The multi-award winning wood carver took six days to create Dubbed Y Ddraig Derw, which translates simply to "The Oak Dragon", created from the remains of a fallen tree on the land.

(Image: Simon O’Rourke)

He carved the sculpture on site with his chainsaw and tools, etching out the intricate details.

The snarling mythological beast can be seen perched on the rocks above the road, and has had people flocking to the town to see it in person.

(Image: Simon O’Rourke)

Simon said that he has several more events planned throughout July and will also be working on several commission pieces.

His next commissioned carving is set to be a piece for the RAF Valley Officers which he has named the ‘Dragon Thrown’.

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