Stone totem

I had decided to create a totem out of stone a soft grey brick that was easy to carve in.I been using chisels to do so i had put a chisel against the stone and then hit it with a wooden hammer to chip of bit by bit of the stone to achieve the designed shape after i got that shape i applied a small amount of paint in some areas of the totem .I was aware of the hazards  and had worn safety  glasses to prevent any bits of stone fling in to my eyes i also worked next to the extraction fan and keep spraying water to prevent the dust from setting in my lungs. I was inspired by the Mayans, native American and African there culture had used to believe in spiritual creatures and super natural spirits and shown the story in totems and others similar pieces of art works. It also relates to DADA that is a very primitive form of surrealism that  is hard to explain and some times don't have any sense many of the tribes also had focused on visions and dreams that often were surreal. the spiritual dances and sining in the tribes had inspired Karwane by Hugo Ball ho was very innovative with art and shown different aspects of it. I decided to do two animals one of them was a ram that is always mad and protective of the territory  its strong and dangerous and the other animal is a cat siting on the head of the ram the cat is naughty and likes getting in to trouble and always runs to the rams head and laughs at the responsibilities. i think that it came out good but as it is a totem it has  small amount of details so it stays a totem and dos't become a sculpture or an statue. if i had to do it again i would do more designing to make sure what i am gonna come up with rather than doing it automatic I think that the strong parts of the totem is that its showing a story and is relating to DADA but the weak points is that its rough and un clean finish. but over all i am happy with it and think i did well.    

different sizes of mallets for different impact smaller one is used to achieve more detail as the big one to get to a right shape  

holding a chisel that way with the thumb  on the inside is incorrect as it is dangerous if you miss and can hit your self in the  thumb 

this is better way of holding the chisel a bit safer 

different tips of chisels for different details 

I didn't used lots of paint to keep that ancient look to it and  and so it looks more primitive and  dos't look to realistic a 

 the souls of the animals are living with in the story as well as in the totem as they still are loyal friends