SEE VAL MAKE A 'SANGOMA'....

[Valentine Mark Herman]

...in the Beeldentuin Heerdeberg in Cadier en Keer, near Maastricht in the Netherlands.

A 'Sangoma' is a traditional healer in Southern Africa

This sculpture was made on Monday 22 July, 2013.

It started with a 17.5 kg (38 1/2 lbs) piece of Zimbabwean stone, and ended as a Sangoma.

I was helped by Zebb Chakawa (who comes from Zimbabwe).

Here are pictures of Zebb, the original piece of stone, and the finished Sangoma.

This is the stone I chose to work on:

Then I drew a simple face on it:

Then started chiselling out the main lines:A master stone-mason at work:It slowly begins to look like a face:Note the skilful positioning of the hammer:Working on the sides of the face:Hollowing out the cheeks:Two cheeks done now:Sand-papering down and washing the stone:The finished stone drying in the sun:My finished Sangoma! And that's it, folks.

All that remains is for me to somehow get theSangoma from the South of Limburg to the South of France.

[Valentine Mark Herman]

Thanks GAH!

Self-portrait? No, it's much better looking than me.

[Amy Irwen]

Beautiful Val!