Carving Conversation's legs and Starting Predator and Prey

This rock will become the legs of the piece I have been working on entitled "Conversation"

I moved the stone in with my crane truck, setting the stone upright .  The toes are overlapping for additional thickness and strength.  This view is looking down at the top of the stone.  I don't have much wiggle room, the feet will barely fit in this stone but it was the closest in terms of length, width and depth to what I need.

I draw on the profile of the legs.  Though the legs will lie horizontally, it is easier to do the bulk of the carving with the legs upright. 



I am leaving the large corner until the rest of the sculpture is carved.  The weight will stabilize the stone.  When I have partially carved the legs I will move it into relation to the head and shoulders of "Conversation" and finish the carving there. 



While working on the American Lion I looked at a lot of reference material, photos, videos, etc.  As a result I became interested in working on a concept I had a few years ago.  In the two blocks above there are drawings on the stone.  On the left block there is a drawing of a gazelle, on the right, a cheetah.  The working title is "Predator and Prey" or "The Miss" as the cheetah has just missed the gazelle as it zooms off in the other stone. 

First, the stone with the Cheetah is moved closer to the studio and the drawing reinforced.

The cat will be right at the face of the stone.  I begin by carving the profile of the head.  This is how I began carving stone back in 1991.  I started at the nose and worked my way back into at stone.  I have made a very shallowly cut line for the body.  If I haven't made the body long enough (I hadn't) I can recut a longer body line.

I establish the profile of the right front leg - I have also added length to the body.

I cut wide on either side of the leg to give myself wiggle room.  The paw is pretty much firmly placed at the end of the block.

I concentrate work on the head of the cat.  At this point it starts to look more like a cougar than a cheetah so I listen to the stone - cougar it is, chasing a deer.



Establishing and detailing the head first helps me to find the rest of the cat - head leads to neck, neck to shoulder, etc.  I am documenting the progress with videos -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daZCn7IUCVk

and this-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsWwxANFd0M

An impression of a leaf in ice.