I had found this place while working on “Cracked Cairn” and passed it several times while carrying the stone to build it. It was a worked plateau that ended on a cliff facing the sea. From it you could see this large rock mass that was precariously balanced and had obviously lost some of its bulk by slipping out to sea. There were lots of smaller stones nearby that suggested a pattern laid on the short grass on the plateau.
The major influence in this design is the shape of the path which leads down to the small flat area. As you walk this path, it spirals down in a most pleasing manner. Therefore a spiral was the obvious choice, but no ordinary spiral!
Patterns with a feeling of three and also spirals have a special fascination for me, and this is something I have always felt. I don’t know why or how. I think that it may be the feeling of balance and harmony that I perceive in them.
I had drawn this pattern as a painting whilst I was doing my Celtic work in the past and knew the layout pretty well, all I had to do was try to do it about twelve feet in diameter. I started by laying out the outer circle and found that the ground was not as flat as I had first reckoned.
Laying out the inner pattern took quite a while to try and get it balanced. In the nature of this work, I don’t like to use any tools, even a tape measure, as it’s my reaction with the place and my direct working with nature that must dictate the end result. After laying out the centre section, I then laid the rest of the pattern in quite a methodical way. This is all to get the correct feeling of balance to the piece. Each section should be roughly equal in feel and nature. It is the dissimilarities that make the piece ‘human’.