Continuing the American Lion



I basically blocked in the profile of the lion (though everything is on the large side, I always cut wide of the mark coming back later to refine the work.  You can also see the shoulder is too high and needs to be cut down.

After measuring the model I mark where the leg is with a crayon.  I then cut the stone to be removed with a large angle grinder.  The "lines" on the stone are the cut marks left by the grinder.

I have removed some stone around the legs but cut wide and do not finish the legs.  I move to other areas that need to be refined such as the side of the head and neck.  I color these areas in with a black timber crayon.   The view for these areas vary - for the face and neck it is looking straight on at the face, the marking around the chest and foot is from side of the lion.

I use grinders to cut the left leg and paw in and create a lower ledge in the sculpture.  I like using the grinders to form the stone as they leave a clean surface, making the form easier to "read".

I usually start defining a sculpture's head before the rest of the sculpture.  This is how I started carving stone - I worked direct (no model) started at the nose and worked my way back into the stone.

I do continue to refine the rest of the body...

but the head remains the area I spend the most time on.

A view of the back corner before I have started forming the leg.  A lot of stone had to be removed around the shoulder and leg first.  A lot of it's on the ground.  Wheelbarrow is waiting to cart the chunks away. That is my least favorite part of this job, but necessary. 

The marks under the tail and over the foot show me what needs to be removed from this view.  The markings on the shoulder and cheek are areas that need to be removed from the view looking directly at the lions face.

The back leg area is really big- a lot needs to come off....

The tail area has been the least considered, but I'll get to it...

This is a huge number of caterpillars on a Morning Glory vine.