As you can imagine, stone is an expensive material.  When progress is measured by how much is removed, an artist gets resourceful in letting nothing go to waste.  In fact, this lion sculpture can probably be considered “zero waste.”  The blocks, when they were delivered weighed a total of ~50,000 lbs.  The lion, including the tail, when installed, weighed a total of ~50,000 lbs.  How can that be?

Well, the paws and forelegs shown here were sculpted from the first major block that I quarried off above the lion’s ribs. The tail, which is a mighty big tail as well as an impressive seating wall and garden border, was cut in sections from the offal of the original blocks.  I also ended up using offal from a previous monumental project, thus justifying the ridiculous amount I spend on storage.  Maybe. 

​What about all the small pieces and scraps from slashing and burning?  How about all the sand and slurry from chainsaw cutting and bush hammering?  Those get shoveled up by the bucketful land spread in the yard to fill low spots and create a solid base for an eventual paving of the Schoolhouse side yard.  The medium to large remnants from all my projects end up on pallets waiting to be picked out by artists and patrons who might want a cool rock to place in their garden, or polish to put in the gallery.  In fact, how cool would it be to own a piece that came off of this lion? 

The “remnant series” is a super cool way to own a piece of history as well as reflect that no part of God’s creation is extraneous or without value.