Trip to Italy

I have just got back from Italy where I have been looking for marble. I went with two friends Paul Vanstone and Jonathan Loxley who are both sculptors too. We go together in order to fill up a complete 24 ton lorry. This is naturally more efficient than filling only half a load. Seeing old friends is fun too. The photograph is of an artigani (artisan I think) carving a religious sculpture. They have been making copies of statues for ever but the reason for showing you this is different. This carving was carved to this level of detail by a machine. The artigani was simply smoothing out the bumps. Incredible eh. The newspaper hats are traditional and that at least has not changed.