At the 2018 Magic of Marble Festival in Sylacauga, AL I decided to carve a ram's head. I had seen a few Bighorn sheep on trips to Colorado and Alaska. It took two and a half years to complete this piece. The stone I had selected had hidden fracture planes. These resulted in unexpected stone departures. My first "perfectly-formed" ear fell off while I was smoothing it with a rasp. In a moment of frustration I declared that this piece would be called "Vincent van Goat." Knowing that unexpected fractures could occur at any time, I worked very cautiously separating the horns from the face at the very last moment.
In an effort to make this carving realistic, I used a bush hammer and point chisel to texture the head of the ram to look like the animal's fur. I striped the horns with a small diamond burr similar to the growth rings found on real horns. I also deliberately left chisel marks behind to give the illusion that this ram has been in a few headbuttings with other males. Note that one horn is slightly shorter than the other - an outcome created by a second unexpected stone departure. Only the eyes are polished to a bright shine giving the observer the impression that the eyes are wet.
In my opinion, this is the best sculpture I have done to date.