We’re back in Norfolk now having installed a stone in Mere Knolls cemetery in Sunderland today.

This stone has been a real pleasure to work on. I had a particularly fine quality piece of slate that I had set aside for a special project and when this particular client came along with such interesting thoughts, it felt like a good match. She wanted to include some poetry and an intricate carving. After trying several different shapes and layouts I produced this design proposal:

The roundel on the front of the stone was inspired by a well known arts and crafts design by William Morris called The Strawberry Thief. The original was designed as a repeating pattern, often seen on wallpaper and cushions, and to make it work as a self contained roundel it needed to be adapted. Also to make the design ‘read’ well in the monochrome medium of stone I wanted to differentiate the different elements in some way, using texture and tone.

Here are a few pictures to show the development of the design:

I took a series of pictures during the carving of the roundel to show the various stages and how I approached creating the different elements. As the carving develops, decisions are made and shapes are tweaked. For example look at the shape of the wing.

I then I made the following time lapse video which shows the whole process:

Here are a few more pictures of the finished piece in situ.

The wording on the back is an excerpt from the following poem by John O’Donohue:

Beannacht – Blessing

For Josie, my mother

On the day when
the weight deadens
on your shoulders
and you stumble,
may the clay dance
to balance you.

And when your eyes
freeze behind
the grey window
and the ghost of loss
gets into you,
may a flock of colours,
indigo, red, green
and azure blue,
come to awaken in you
a meadow of delight.

When the canvas frays
in the currach of thought
and a stain of ocean
blackens beneath you,
may there come across the waters
a path of yellow moonlight
to bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
may the clarity of light be yours,
may the fluency of the ocean be yours,
may the protection of the ancestors be yours.

And so may a slow
wind work these words
of love around you,
an invisible cloak
to mind your life.

John O’Donohue (1956-2008).