The traveller

 

Plaster 6" x 3.5" x 1"

This was done with one of the dried out casts. I soaked it for a few minutes in the bathroom sink. It was originally 2 figures but I got a bit over confident with a chisel so one of them caught the early flight.

Plaster carving is a difficult occupation hiding beneath simplicity. As with any carving you don't need much preparation, just cast a lump of plaster and in half an hour you can start cutting away.  For me, the actual process of cutting is hard and I think even with a fresh cast it might still be hard and quite tiring.   Compared to modelling that is, which works the other way round (you don't take stuff away, you keep adding it) I need to try that again but not I think with plaster. I just don't have the room to slosh the stuff around but I do have some air dry clay which I might try again.  

As with all art you need some kind of vision and specific direction and I am still working on moving from drawing to model. Seems to me if I'm struggling to see it in a drawing, or at least in my head, then I'll still struggle in the modelling medium, whether clay, plaster, wood or whatever. Of course the head stuff doesn't stop when you start the actual modelling. It's all quite complex.