I include this next comment on the heavier “Outstretched Arm” piece as these comments offer some indication of my state of mind at the time.
I just counted the growth rings on the piece with the outstretched arm. I’ve just begun working on it, or has it just begun working on me? Yes, I believe so! Eighty years old it is. Wow! The sculpture is already eighty! Somehow I find that aspect of the piece to be wondrous. Look what it has accomplished. Look what it has become in only eighty years. Now we are assisting each other to become even more. I am really excited about what it will be. Already on one side I see, I visualize an outstretched arm, and on the opposite shoulder there appears to be a seal or a sea lion type flipper. Am I to do more transformation stuff? Of course. Why should the transformation stop now?
I visually take my attention to the second piece and count the growth rings. This piece would later become “Confirmation.” One hundred twenty years plus. Where did the pieces come from? Where are they going? What is their role in the scheme of things? Time to find out, back to carving.