Also, Italian alabaster is the perfect example of what I mean when I say that when carving stone, the sculptor's task is to show off the qualities in the stone, not the cleverness of the sculptor. The transparency of Italian alabaster (and in this case, the shape and size of this individual stone) lends itself to carving thin. But I also made the body a lot thicker than it would be in reality to help contrast how the light (or lack of it) plays with this stone.

Does this sculpture depict a dove or a seagull? Ask your imagination. I hope you enjoy this carving of a bird in flight as much as I enjoyed making it.