IT IS a defining moment when the sculptor is captured at work in the studio, just a matter of weeks before the unveiling of the completed artwork.
Alan Beattie-Herriot is at work in his Edinburgh base on the life-and-a-quarter size monument to Wojtek the Bear, adopted by Polish soldiers during the Second World War and brought to Scotland with the troops. The memorial is to be placed in Princes Street Gardens overlooked by the castle.
Wojtek, a brown bear that helped carry ammunition with the men at the battle of Monte Cassino in Italy, became a celebrity in Scotland when he arrived with the thousands of Poles initially based in army camps in the Scottish Borders.
The Wojtek Memorial Trust has been raising money for the permanent tribute to the bear who was found as an orphan in Persia in 1942, but it is still about £20,000 away from its final £300,000 target it aimed to reach ahead of its November unveiling.
The trust said the figures of man and bear are standing, "waiting to engage with the passers by" in the memorial.
Polish granite foundations are being pout in place and wide steps will provide a seating point to allow visitors to view the gardens.
Mr Beattie-Herriot, one of the UK’s foremost figurative sculptors, has been involved with the planning of the project for about seven years.
He said: "It's pretty well on now but it has been a long haul.
"It's an iconic site and the first piece of figurative artwork that's gone into the gardens in probably about 80 years.
"It has been a huge responsibility."
It is hoped the monument, which includes a four-metre relief panel detailing six scenes from Wojtek’s life, will draw visitors from all over the world as well as act as a point of reference for Scots and Poles living here.
The monument setting has been designed and will be managed by Raymond Muszynski of Morris and Steedman Associates, with engineering work by Sir Robert McAlpine.
While in the Borders, the soldiers and the bear became part of the community and attended concerts, dances and even children's parties.
Wojtek walked about free and his story was retold in a book, Wojtek The Bear Polish Hero, written by Aileen Orr, who also founded the trust.
After the camps were closed in 1947 the bear was homed in Edinburgh Zoo, where he died, aged 21, in 1963.
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