carving a face the direct way

I am using a scrap of limestone to carve an emerging face in what is called direct carving.  There is no model involved, just carving straight into the stone.  It starts with a sketch on the stone to give me an idea of what I am going to do.

I then mark on the stone with a masonry stone on a 4" angle grinder.  I follow the lines I have drawn on the stone.

I begin by defining the nose and the area on either side of it.  The nose protrudes most from the face and once this is established it leaves little doubt as to where everything else (eyes, mouth, etc.) goes.

I further define the nose and the cheekbones and forehead.

I switch over to an die grinder (it's next to the stone) to form various features of the face - the mouth and just beginning the eyes.

I draw the center line of the face so that I can make sure the face is symmetrical. I draw on eyes, mouth, etc. with a china marker.

I define the areas with various sizes of burrs on the die grinder. Carving an emerging face has its challenges - overhanging stone obscures your vision and makes it difficult to see the profile of the face.

I sand the face with 80 grit closed coat paper.

I decide to carve a lock of hair in the top of the stone.  I use an angle grinder with a masonry wheel.

I have added a bit more depth around the mouth and jaw using a die grinder and then resanded those areas.  The stone still has tool marks from when it was cut from whatever sculpture it came from.  I'm going to leave those marks as I feel it adds a bit of energy to the piece.

Four Tom Turkeys on a winter day and some unidentified bird flying behind them.