well, it finally happened– i had thought that the sortuv platform-like area between the body of the lower figure of the sculpture and the edges of this “matrix-like material” had been finished to a good point, but then as i sometimes do i noodled around with it a little bit, which led to an ENORMOUS amount of work, but it paid off in the long run, as this area really reads up as a contiguous “surface”, the edges of which still need some work, both on the outer and inner lines, but b’golly i was finally able to tear myself away from it today. whew!! 
then of course i had to figure out just what i was going to do next. my first thought was to get up on top of the piece and begin working on the upper figure once more, but i suddenly got interested in the lower figure once more, but this time in the area of the buttocks, where i had been sortuv stymied for a while. but either i got past my “sculptor’s block” (patent pending upon that pun) or i was demented, because i just waded in full bore there and went to town. i cut a lot of stone out of the area, both between the legs and also outside the left leg of the figure, rounding out those butt cheeks and going a little bit into the waist and rib cage region. suddenly, although it was not like a true epiphany, things were somewhat obvious as to what i was going to do in there, and so i just let myself go to an extent.
then there was the leg itself, specifically the thigh, the left thigh. the lower leg is turned strongly, and it affects the way that the muscles work, and i had had quite the hard time estimating what i wanted to do, but now i just used my newly renovated chisel (slotted flat chisel that i had sharpened until the slotting was gone, had to reslot it) and flew through the stone– the muscle had to turn– just so!! i made quite a bit of progress in there, happily enough. the photo above is not really recent, i shall be shooting some photos soon, now that there is something that can actually be seen– that surface area just didn’t photograph worth a hoot– and will bore in with a wide-angle lens and get something good, if a little bit porno– all those of prim and proper sensibilities should eschew viewing the next time i publish images from the sculpture.
and i should be able to get out there tomorrow again, as i think i am going to be doing a cast and will have to be home to adjust the kiln. i am going to be back at the local restaurant soon again, working on the big painting, which is a whole story in itself, so will leave that one for another time.