The Creative Process

A couple of questions that I commonly get asked about stone sculpture are:  “Does it take a long time to do,” and “where do you get your ideas from?” Well, actually, it doesn't take a long time to do, when using the softer stones like soapstone, alabaster, or pyrophylite, which are the ones I prefer to use, as opposed to the likes of marble and serpentine, which take much longer.  Most people think that all rock is just “hard”, but in reality, the softer ones are akin to maybe carving a hardwood, like oak, and it goes quite quickly when using power tools with diamond tips.  I only use hand tools on the finishing part of the process.  The finishing process takes the longest time, with a lot of hand-sanding and polishing, but the most fun is when the hot wax goes on, and all the previously unseen colours jump out at you!

As far as ideas go, if I'm doing a figurative piece, say an animal, I'll just get a good photo of one, and work from that.  Once the proportions are blocked out, it's just a matter of adding details.  But I prefer abstract work because it's more exciting, and also because breakage is not a problem.  If you spend a week on an animal, and it's leg gets broken off, it's finished, whereas with abstract, you just shift gears and go in a different direction.  I use the overall shape of the stone to help me start a piece, as well as the grain and colour.  I like to get as much space into the piece as possible to lighten up the weight, so I drill holes and do interior carving first.  For those of you who have ever worked in an underground mine, it's very similar to drilling, blasting, and scraping on a much smaller scale!  There is a lot of Nature around where I work, and it's energy has a way of flowing through me andinto the piece, so it actually carves itself.  It's really just a matter of removing waste material from what's already there!