The Evolution of a Design

I'm trying to bring this blog closer-to-caught-up while slow-cooking a rack of ribs on this Sunday afternoon... 

 Last year, I split off a 4,000 lb. piece from the end of the Daydreamer Bench.  Here's a video that shows the block being split from the original 10,000 lb. stone:
https://youtu.be/cGkFF0DPBl8
Here's a video showing the block being stood up - after I'd cut the bottom flat:
https://youtu.be/hgEwP2kIi7Q

 The original idea was to make a companion piece to the other 4,000 lb. scrap that started out as "The Throne of Truth" - which evolved into "Determination". (See the post below this one).

 This design was to be "The Throne of Measure" - where someone could sit and decide whether their glass was...half full... or half empty...

 After changing the Throne of Truth to Determination, I tried to create designs that would be a companion piece for that new direction.

 I made a scale clay model called "Persistence".

 I felt pretty strong about the new design and drew it onto the block of stone.  I even scored lines where I would make major cuts with the hydraulic chain saw.

 I also started to make cuts to release scrap material - but, it felt wrong and I quickly stopped.  This is an example of "Cut Once, Think Twice". (hmmm...)

 I made this small sculpture, called Ring Seed, in Georgia Pink Marble last winter.  One morning, while staring at the rocks with my cup of coffee, I decided that it was a great candidate for a design in that stone,  if I flipped it to open upward.

 I made this scale clay model to work out how I wanted to proceed.  This is called "Circle Seed".  This concept is an echo of the sentiment behind Joni Mitchell's song "The Circle Game" - it's about Life.

 I decided to make a scale drawing to tighten up the details.

 After living with that last design, I wanted to see if it could be more powerful if the inside was made of spiraling glyphs.  I was worried that the other design might be.... too busy?

 The idea behind the new design was how Life is cyclical in nature.  So, I tried making rippled textures in the inner part to represent how people and events leave their marks on us.  A line from a Genesis song titled "Ripples" sticks in my mind, "Ripples never come back - Gone to the other side..."  Life is change - like ripples on a pond.  There's the beginning... and the inevitable end.

This is an example of how convoluted the path can be in the creation of a major work of Art.  Where we start is not necessarily where we end.  Sometimes, it's easy and obvious - other times, it's a hard, drawn-out labor.

Here's the scale drawing that I made with dimensions in order to lay out the basic design (without details) into the stone.  Now, I'm ready to show the dusty part of the work; more changes can happen at any point...