Relief Carving – continued
At these junctions the hair swirls and eddies and seems either to come out away from the body, or to swirl inwards like at the corner of the eyes.

This observation became the start for my first series of abstract carvings. Once more I set myself rules to follow. The stone was to be pierced right through in places, creating dramatic dark ‘wounds’ and the surface then treated with the rules decided upon for this particular piece. For instance that the lines should always flow directly away from each edge and that they must spiral into a hole. Curious and unpredicted areas of stillness arise where the carved lines flowing between three or more fissures slide past each other. Conversely, as the surface is worked over it becomes increasingly animated. It amazes me to discover that the natural world is made up of things created through the repetition of a simple set of instructions. Indeed that the creation of such complexity can be derived from a simple process.
William Peers, 2003