The place is set in a deep, steeply sided old quarry working which had a cut that went out to the sea. This cut had an enormous rock that was precariously balanced at the mouth of this cut. When looking down the cut towards the sea, this rock had a face that was about 15 degrees from the vertical. At the beginning of the cut was a rock that was about three feet in diameter which would make a good plinth for a cone / cairn. The bottom face of this rock had a lot of debris around it.
I had decided to build a steep sided cone which would be balanced on top of this rock. The top was not very level so I had to spend some time building a level base from which I could work. This was the first days work. I had originally intended to make a formation around the base that would look like the rock was emerging from the surface of the earth, but the stones around didn’t have the desired faces that would make this possible.
Whilst building the cone it became evident that it would be elliptical in shape. This meant that it would look different in profile depending on where you viewed it from. As I built, it became apparent that I was in fact reflecting the face of the large rock at the seaward entrance to the cut. This landscape was again having its influence on me.
After I had finished the cone, I cleaned the area around the base of the rock and the plinth rock now looked more isolated from the background. Looking from the seaward side it appears as if the cone is slipping down the surface of the rock, which was a fortunate bonus to this piece.