And hopefully, finally a blog entry. I seem to be having trouble getting this blog up tonight, but hopefully the third time's the charm! After several false starts, stones that didn't have any interest in becoming carvings, too much time and almost running out of patience, finally the commissioned piece I've been working on is finished. I don't think I've ever been so happy to hand off a carving to a client! "Talks with Dogs" may look fairly simple, but it's one of the most difficult carvings I've ever done. The Brazilian soapstone was a gorgeous color, but the light striations of color in it were very chalky, and many of them turned up in some very tricky places, so the piece had to be carved verrrry sloooowwwly, and with extreme care at all times in order to avoid breaking pieces off. To add to the pressure, one of the dogs represented in the carving had to be put to sleep about a week before the carving was finally ready, which made the whole thing even more nerve racking. Thankfully, the client loved the carving, nothing broke off, and in the end, I was happy with the result too. All the frustrations kind of melted away when I saw the look on her face, and when she started to jump up and down and thank me, it reminded me that even though at times it's incredibly hard, it's a gift and we always have to remember to be thankful for it. I'll be posting an image of the carving on my artist page, please stop by and let me know what you think. Ciao for now.