House sign gable stone Mermaid completed in direct carving method

The sandstone gable stone house sign stone with the mermaidthat I'd already started carving some time before is completed.

From the blog posts it may not appear so much, but I've been quite busy recently. Yet more ornaments for St. John's cathedral, a trip to India, the restoration of two putti and a terracotta sculpture (almost done), carving a granite pedestal for another sculptor, a sandstone lion and a lion's head in relief (more on that later, because I've got another one to go). But most of all, I wanted to finish this relief.

To the first message about this facing brick.

Background

The stone I used for this relief is the same as for the relief ‘Somnia’, a gray German sandstone which soon turns a bit greenish when outside.

The representation of a sleeping mermaid refers to the awakening of man. Water is a universal symbol for awareness, and here lies the human being who is still half in the animal stageof the fish, cold-blooded, immersed in sleep. It is intended that man transcends his animal aspects and realizes his own higher knowing. Once the stage of sleep and entanglement in the jumble of worldly experiences is over, a whole scale of higher sensations comes within range. This is why this relief is the sequel of ‘Somnia’, which means both sleep as well as dream.

I'm thinking of having these reliefs, that are part of the series ‘Asleep, Arise, Awake, And Stop Not Till The Goal Is Reached’ cast into bronze as well.