Sculpture and Lions

I needed a sculpture that was well underway for my carving demo at Rare Plant Research. I decided to riff on (that's very different from "rip off" ) the medieval stone lions at Hearst Castle. They were so funny and charming, worrying about supporting the enormous fountain above them. Obviously carved by someone who'd never seen a lion, or even looked closely at a cat.

Here's a sketch of how I remember them.

 

Here's the progression from block to sculpture in about 4 hours.

 

Carving AAC is so fun because you can see results quickly. 

Working on this lion got me thinking about me thinking about the difference between working too fast, hurrying, and working efficiently. There's no hurry with efficiency, but there's also no wasted effort.

I used a large wood gouge. Shocking, I know. (Sir Richard avert your gaze!) I've never used it on wood as it takes too much effort.  But it works perfectly with the AAC. I used the big sweep gouge as the unit of measurement. You can see how all the forms relate to each other even though it's still being roughed out. Efficiency is using your largest tool to do the most work. 

Will post more photos of the lion after studio and office clean up. Can't see the wood on my workbench or my desk!