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| As I refine the foot, I mark areas that need to be shaped. It is very flat on this side so I mark the areas that need to be cut down - the arch, the top of the foot, around the joint, toe, etc. The cuts on the top the foot will bevel back. The section on the arch needs to be removed. |
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| I use an angle grinder to make cuts to the arch then come back with the grinder to cut across at the base of these cuts. You can see here how different my carving style is from Don's. It looks haphazard though I am careful to measure and refer to the model through sight-sizing. |
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| The bottom of the foot - I am just beginning to remove stone from the arch though I am still off the form. |
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| The arch lightened, the whole foot is still very heavy on the bottom. I will refine the top of the foot and toes first. Once I am happy with how they look I will bring in the bottom. Leaving things heavy on the backside is a kind of insurance - you can always recarve and set what you are working on a little bit further back. Stone carving is not as unforgiving as people believe, you can make serious mistakes and still correct them if you work properly. |
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| The ankle and leg and really heavy but I want to get the foot right first. Then it will be obvious where the leg is. This will help me to carve confidently and get down to form quickly. In this photo I am marking where the foot slopes from the big toe to the pinky toe. Also the area around the side of foot and ankle. |
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| Showing the work I've done on this side.. |
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| Another view.... |
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| I begin to carve the toes. I take measurements from the foot as well as looking at where the toes should be to each other. The second toe from the pinky looks a little high. In fact all the toes look too long and thus, make the big toe look too short. |
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| From this side you can see how thick the bottom of the foot and toes are. I am doing all of the carving of this sculpture with angle grinders. I have taken a video of myself using a large angle grinder with a 10" diamond wheel and loaded it on youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QI3qOJ-wFw |
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| Looking down the length of the leg. It looks a bit broad and flat across the top of the foot. |
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| I am refining the toes from the pinky over to the big toe. There is too much difference between the pinky toe and the one next to it so I will cut down that toe. |
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| Poke berries.. |
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| A little Fence Lizard "hanging out". |
