Next: Dancing With The Universe

A narrow path starting from the bottom of it, climbing up a steep cliff vigorously, then it becomes an easy walk.

Then becoming steeper, and again soon easier, then it feels like reaching the destination.

As soon as you think you did, you slide down like you’re on a jet-coaster, but you are pushed up as if an inertial energy is working. You are almost thrown off to the outside, but you managed to remain on your path.

Then a jet-coaster again. With an even stronger inertial energy, you held on, and returned to yourself.

It looks the place you came back to is so close to the place you departed from. What was the journey, you wonder.

Look, it isn't the same place you've left. You arrived at near to you, near to your core, near to yourself. You think you started from "yourself", but it wasn't you.

And it was such a beautiful journey. The path you walked is very unique and it is your own, and nobody else's. It is your path that you created.

We are often presented with opportunities to make choices. Sometimes the choice is simple: to continue going on, or to give up. When you choose to continue, you might have more choices of which way you want to go. As long as you don't give up, you create your path. From anothers' eyes, it looks like your path has been unfolding naturally. But mostly, you made it.

It is difficult for you to view how your path looks from the outside. We might see some part of it, and we might feel the curve isn't beautiful, or the line is terrible. But when we return to the real us, the path we created is special and beautiful.

The challenge of carving this piece was to create an even thickness, and the smooth and logically right lines. The clay maquette reveals the overall shape, but it doesn't show the thickness and the details of the curves.

Making a maquette narrows down where you will go, but still you have many choices ahead. Also, the decision of how thick or thin line I should make was a dance with the stone and its shape. If too thick, maybe it will not be elegant and delicate. If too thin, the piece might loose its power and presence. You could see the lines drawn by a blue crayon on the stone in the above photo. The top photo is the finished piece, and I am pretty happy about the thickness (or I should say thinness) of the path.

I like translucent white alabaster. Light goes through the stone, when it is thin and polished enough. I looked for a stone most likely having no inclusions. An inclusion could add character to the piece, like a little beauty mark on human being’s body. But for this design, I wanted a pure and beautiful clear stone. I was very happy with this stone.

The left photo is taken in the room with the strong sunset light coming in. It shows the clarity and cleanness of this stone, and also the natural pattern in the stone. I think how the light goes through the stone is miraculous and beautiful. This is why I can't stop choosing the translucent white alabaster.