A TALENTED Kilbarchan woman has been using her sculpting skills to help villagers beat the lockdown blues.

Amelia Tullis, 27, wowed passers-by outside the Steeple Hall last week as they watched her meticulously carve a beautiful female figure out of snow.

It took around eight hours for her to painstakingly complete the 5ft 4ins tall sculpture, which she named ‘Persephone’ and was one inch taller than Amelia herself.

“I’m originally from California and haven’t seen much snow, so it was really nice to see so much of it falling,” she told The Gazette.

“The sculpture began as a basic snowman when I started at 11am but then the entire day got away from me and I didn’t get back home until 7pm.

“A lot of people came up to me while I was making it, taking pictures of the sculpture and asking where I was from.”

The Steeple Square resident moved to Kilbarchan last August to stay with her boyfriend Mark, after her plans to travel across Europe were put on hold by the Covid pandemic.

The Gazette: A picture of the snow sculpture taken by William BestA picture of the snow sculpture taken by William Best

Although Amelia has taken part in a few sculpting courses while in college, this was her first attempt at creating a sculpture out of snow.

She said: “I’ve never sculpted anything this large before but I had done smaller versions of each of her features.

“When I was a kid, I used to sculpt mostly people out of pottery clay but I also did monsters and little animals.

“I was a social worker back in California but I’ve mostly pursued creative activities outside my work.

“I’ve done dancing, singing, writing, sculpting – there’s not much I don’t dabble in.

“I enjoy getting lost in whatever creative work I’m doing and it was really nice to mess around in the snow and take my mind off our current situation.”

While Amelia hopes to start travelling again once restrictions are lifted, she has greatly enjoyed her time in Renfrewshire so far.

She added: “Kilbarchan, and Scotland in general, is beautiful and it was great to speak to people during the day when I was making the sculpture.

“A lot of people were interested in why I was putting so much effort into her when she was probably going to fall apart fairly soon but I just love putting my energy into making something beautiful.”