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I last met the artist Antony Gormley in a workshop near Liverpool where he was encouraging members of the public to make small clay people.

I made one myself - one of 40,000 clay people which became his award winning artwork Field for the British Isles.

I never did spot my little clay person among the thousands spread across the gallery floors of the National Museums of Wales, but it gave me a real kick to know he was in there.

Since then, Gormley has made many more much loved an accessible works of art from the eerie Another Place (100 cast iron figures on Crosby Beach) to the unmissable Angel of the North.

But with his latest work, he's relying on people power again.

The Fourth Plinth will use the vacant space in London's Trafalgar Square - already famous for a range of rolling artworks - to create a new living artwork.

Gormley wants to find 2,400 people who'll agree to pose on the plinth for an hour each - 24 hours a day for 100 days.

Volunteers can do anything they like - dance, sing, demonstrate, shout, scream - as long as it's legal.

And in true democratic style, Antony Gormley is basing his selection of volunteers on proportional representation.

So ots.

Speaking in Edinburgh, where he launched his campaign he said he appreciated the efforts Scots would have to make in getting to London but said he was confident they would.

And already he's at up to 600 Scots offering themselves as volunteers.

Volunteers can register their interest online at his website https://www.oneandother.co.uk/ although formal applications won't begin until April.

The successful candidates will be chosen randomly by computer - even the artist must take his chances, apparently - and the living artwork will begin officially on 6 July in Trafalgar Square.

And for those who'd rather not make an exhibition of themselves, there's always his next work - a series of six life-sized figures for the Water of Leith.

"They're already being cast," he says. "We're just in the process of seeking planning permission."

If successful, the figures will be seen at various points in the city, including outside the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, in Stockbridge, and at a pier in Leith.

"The idea is simple,"he says.

"It's the relationship between human beings and the city and between the city and the elements.

"The Water of Leith is an ancient geological pathway to the river, older than the city itself, and it's a lovely way to connect up different parts of the city."