marks of work, some in progress, the idea complete,

marks of work, some in progress, the idea complete, the final touches remaining.

Prices - depending on material, time and detail - range from $300 to $6,000.

Working on several pieces at one time — to both ease the monotony of working weeks on one single piece and to see a piece completed while one is not - Ms. Morris said eases the boredom of the job. Each piece varies in time of completion, total hours depending on type of materials, size and details, but she said she can “rough one (an object) out in a day or two while sanding and finishing takes weeks” or even months.

“I get so excited to see how a piece will look,” she said, adding that completion adds satisfaction to the job.

For Ms. Morris each piece she carves is special. “Like the Guardian Angel,” she waves her arm in the direction of the four-foot high angel standing proudly in the studio. “That was a log from a tree down the road, planted 30 years ago,” she said, adding that after transformation into the angel, the tree has life beyond its roots.

The idea of preservation is always present in Ms. Morris’s work. Using animal shapes, both real and imaginary, to express emotion she preserves the creature and the feeling in time.

While several of her new pieces are in wood, she said she prefers to work in stone — her favorites are alabaster or soapstone - though she has worked in several other materials such as bronze or marble.

“It’s easier to work with the grain in stone as wood grains resists new shapes,” she said of her preference to work with soft stone. As materials vary, so do shapes and sizes, ranging from small hand-sized wall pieces to a three-foot tall beaver or the nearly life-sized angel, entitled “The Guardian Angel,” part of the Scared Cows Exhibit in September at the Middle Street Gallery in Washington.

“I mostly use animal shapes to express human emotion,” she said, yet she points to an “experimental piece” of human shapes with their arms locked together in a circle; the cool stone surface steeped in the warmth and personality Ms. Morris’s chisel has carved.

Between shows in Rappahannock as well as in Washington D.C., Pennsylvania and other areas, she still finds time to spend in creating her work at home. Working parttime as an artist since 1982, Ms. Morris says now she is starting to “see some reward for her work.”

By word of mouth, through shows both locally and in other areas, and in other galleries, she advertises her talents. “Advertising in magazines is very expensive,” she said, adding her brochure, found in several places in Rappahannock County and in Washington D.C. galleries, helps make customers familiar with her work. “As you develop a clientele, you develop friendships,” she said with a smile.

Presently, Ms. Morris is showing in the Scared Cows exhibition at the. Middle Street Gallery in Washington through the end of September. “It’s good to have three pieces of one particular medium,” she said, adding she plans several future pieces in wood and several in stone.