Continued work on Discovery... progress on the head, foot, setting up for the left hand. A tiny Praying Mantis makes a brief appearance

 I have been working on the head of "Discovery", refining the face and smoothing the hair.  I, then, began cutting down the back of the head.

 The back of the head is straight up and down and it is obvious as to what to remove. First, I mark a corner to be removed from the back of the head.

 Another view...

 I have taken off most of the corner with the angle grinder in the photo.

 Another view.

 After that corner is cut off, I mark other corners to be removed like this one....

 and this....

 and then these corners as well.

 Then, I remove stone from the middle of the head to the back of the head.

 

 Meanwhile, Don is working on the foot.  He uses an air hammer to remove stone from the sole.

 He uses a big grinder to shave stone off the foot.

 Next, I will begin work on the left hand.  The model is on the stool, I have marked in crayon areas that need to be removed.

This is a tiny Praying Mantis only an inch long, cleaning his foot.

Discovery continues, work on the left and right hands, the head and the leg



This is the left hand of Discovery.  Don has partially cut the top profile.

Don has completely cut the top profile of the hand.

Don has blocked the entire hand and is now cutting the profile of the underside of the hand.




He is finished blocking the left hand, soon I will be carving the form of the hand.

I have caved in the fingers of the right hand.  I have begun removing excess stone  from around the thumb back to the wrist.

I cut the fingers a bit wide at first, now I cut them closer in to where the form should be.

I mark the knuckles in lumber crayon.  I will cut around them to define them and create the fingers.

The thumb and index finger were too wide and I have narrowed them somewhat.  The wrist is still thick and the entire hand needs a good deal of refinement.

While I work on the head,Don smooths out the stone below the right hand.  The earthwork and sod will follow the line of the hand.  I need to conscious of the this when I refine the base to make sure that the stone does not interfere with the sod.

Don and I moved the head into the studio so that I can work out of the sun or rain. I have begun establishing the hair on the right side of her face.

I have also begun taking off escess stone from the back of Discovery's head.

Now I need to start removing stone from the back of her head.

Don uses the hydraulic chainsaw to remove stone from the leg.

He then erected a structure over the leg so that he can have shade while he blocks it.

This is a really interesting insect that found it's way into the house, it was over 3 inches long.  I put it outside so that the cats wouldn't get it.

A couple of frogs, one relaxes on the slate, the other enjoys a soak.





Continued carving of Dicovery's right hand, Fourth of July fun

 I mark out the fingers, folds in the palm, etc. with a lumber crayon.  I then mark out the areas of the wrist that need to be removed.  The arm is quite thick at this point.

 I have cut out the two middle fingers of the hand.  The hand is slightly cupped and so I begin with the two lower fingers.

 From this view you can see how I have removed the stone from the two fingers, also I have begun removing stone from the side of the arm.

 I begin defining the indiividual fingers.  They look really crooked at this point and they are also too flat, they need to angle inward.

 The lower part of the hand and pinkie are too high and will need to come down.  Also, the wrist is too high and the forearm is too flat.

 I have cut down the wrist and have just begun to define the outside of the thumb.

 This area of the forearm will be removed.

 I mark the under the fingers that will be removed.

 I grind the hand with a masonry blade so that I have a smoother surface.  The diamond wheel, while it is much faster, leaves a choppy surface.  Smoothing the surface makes seeing the form easier. 

 After I get the palm close to the way I want I begin work on the outside of the hand.  I mark the joint of the first finger and mark where the bottom of the hand is in the stone.

 I have cut the thumb in and am taking away stone to form the rest of the hand.

 It's getting there, a bit blocky still, but it's coming along.

My family celebrated the 4th of July at my brother's house.  This is my brother mark demonstrating the proper way how to hold a ladyfinger firecracker in your teeth to avoid getting hurt - bite hard!  He was just fooling around folks, he loves fireworks, but he's always safe with them.
My niece Emily watches....

 The fireworks were fun....

  .............and they seemed to be everywhere, the front yard, over the neighbors house.....

but this sunset beats them all for beauty.....