As you can see, it is still pretty rough. This establishes the size and basic shape without a lot of details. I like to save the details till the final piece. If you figure out everything in the small version, then going large becomes simply a mechanical process.

There is a tendency to follow the maquette slavishly, and that takes all the fun out of actually making the large version. The final sculpture has to be a piece in its own right, not just an enlargement. Also, in the act of making a piece, a dialog develops between you and the clay. It is the whispering little voice that tells you how the light interacts with the physical surface. It allows you to find subtlety, to work nuance into the forms. Finally, there is a down-to-earth, visceral way a sculpture 12 feet tall interacts with the space around it that is simply not there in the maquette.  You have to aware of this interaction and listen to what the sculpture is telling you.