How the other side is going to look

My postings have been sporadic lately due to my struggling with some health issues. I'm planning to be a bit more consistent, but we've had quite a streak of near and plus 100 degree days, so I'm having to work around that as well. Earlier this week, I took some time to address the other side of this piece, which I'm calling "Mandala 1". As you can see, it's similar to side one, with some notable exceptions, one of which is a radial instead of a concentric motif.

More refined

This side of the piece is nearing completion, but for final refinements and finishing. The other side, which has not been worked at all, will somewhat echo the first side but with less relief since it is much more flat.

As of now, I'm planning to start with the high parts to the outside and go down toward the center.

Starting to shape up

After a couple more short sessions, the piece is starting to acquire some character. There is a weak horizon that runs through this stone near the surface that will cause some problems down the line. I'll have to decide at some point whether to carve out those weak areas, try to minimize them with filler or just let the nature of this piece of alabaster be what it is. I'm inclined to follow the last option.

New piece

Well, it's been many weeks since my last post. I went through a few weeks of yard and home preparation for an event at our studios, and then 3 weeks of an attack of shingles. I'm just now getting back to normal and I found that my enthusiasm for the stone I was previously working has waned. In the interim, I also had an idea for a new piece (series?) that I wanted to test. So, I worked two hours yesterday on the new one and it is shown above. One of the photos shows the stone after 20 minutes of work, the other after two hours. I'll get back to the older stone when the time is right.

Reorientation

I've been considering mounting this piece vertically instead of horizontally as previously stated, and today it became official. I like the upward thrust of the design and it seems there is a lot more implied movement with the piece mounted this way. The very bottom of it now has a flat area of about 8 square inches in size that should be suitable for drilling. This was the 9th day on this stone and represents approximately 16 hrs. of work.

Today's progress

More refinement happening here. I am in the part of this work that I like the most - making up the forms and their various interactions on the fly. It is just plain exciting to see the shapes emerge from solid stone in a matter of minutes, made possible by my pneumatic hammer. I thought initially that this tool would speed up the work so much that I'd lose control of the process and make mistakes. Happily, this has not happened, and I'm able to continue with my normal methods. It's just faster. As can be seen in the photo of the other side, I've not done much with that yet. I'm still working out how to manage the fact that the main features of that side are oriented in the same direction as is the stratification of the stone - a happy accident. My task will be to exploit that while creating a piece that has unity and coherence from side to side. A challenge!

Problem fixed . . .

I think I've got the "chicken" problem solved, at least partially. The changes I've got planned for the next session should ban birds from the stone once and for all. A side benefit of an opening is that it makes the stone significantly lighter - a very good thing!