Corners removed, rough surfaces smoothed, wind filled sails form perfect curves with no deviations allowed.  The mast top point is evident with the jib to the left and the main sail to the right.

While grinding in the midst of a cloud of dust that swirled around me then trailed off with the winds a song from my distant past stepped to the front of my mind, Sailing by Chris Croft.  The lyrics, "Sailing, takes me away from..." reminded me of carving.  The process of sculpting consumes my attention and takes me away from whatever is going on in the world. My world reduces to the moment with just me, my tools and the sculpture... so simple, so complete.

Browsing through the table covered with stones, occasionally picking one up and setting it down in a different orientation, identifying the possible shapes within, melding the stones and ideas in my mind to see if they fit.  After a few visits I selected this for my next sculpture.  It's a flat stone with a long flat base that contains a sailboat within.  The mast extends up to the small bump at the top as the boat sails to the left in this photo with the sails billowing toward me.  The photo below shows where the sails will be hollowed, capturing winds.  The bottom photo shows the end view of the boat coming toward me.  

Knowing that I could accidentally loose the rock's orientation during the many flips and turns as I rough shape it with an angle grinder, I took a pencil and drew a circle around the tip of the mast.  Any time during the dust filled grinding, when the world is covered with fine white powder, I can blow on the rock's points to find the mast and be sure of where I am.  If only life were so easy, that any time I was lost I could simply blow and instantly know where I was.

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The spot wouldn't come out so it stays (as an offset navel I suppose).  I filed and resanded the belly but to no avail, Sometimes rocks insist on a feature that the sculptor cannot alter.  Becoming obsessed with its removal could result in a disastrous shape so like so many things in life, the optimal choice is to accept the reality and move on.

Its an interesting coincidence that this sculpture is the first that I created since retiring.  My life is in transition, not sure where to focus my time when this sculpture emerges from within a rock, showing the way for me to go.  I wish I knew where he was pointing.