“Wings” piece was inspired by the large “coquilles”, or scallop shell fossils visible in the side of one stone. The ruffled shape, and it’s angled position in the stone gave it a wing-like character. Two stones of the same size had been delivered to the quarry; I decided to make a “pair”.

My over-riding concern at this time to design and plan sculptures before execution was tempered by the desire to improvise based on physical properties of the stone. This meant a lot of looking at the stone as well as sketching and actually carving it. Lots of looking helped develop the skill of watching the forms emerge from the stone rather than concentrating on what was carved away. This was also necessary training for the process of direct carving* of figurative sculpture.

*direct carving meaning not copying a maquette by technical enlargement