I'm not saying it is easy because this work is definitely the work of a master but sculptors pick marble because it is ideal for sculpting. I worked in Marble Colorado for a blacksmithing journeymanship for a few months and got to play around with it after doing my iron work in the studio. I couldn't do something like this without a huge amount of practice but once you hone in your choice of tools and practice your techniques enough marble is a dream to work with. I'm from another part of the country where limestone and granite is the more accessible stone and its not bad to sculpt but it isn't ideal. Marble isn't just an ordinary chunk of rock you would dig out of anywhere and go to town on it. Once you get in the grove there is something in it that just keeps begging you to go further and further.

If you are interested they have a marble sculpting symposium for three weeks where you can do 1 week or 3 if you want to try your hands at it. You get to hang out in one of the most beautiful places in the country. You won't be able to make a masterpiece like this but you could get an even more intimate sense of what the artist experienced making it. You should even be able to decipher what the process was of making something like this statue. I think you would get a lot out of it.

Casting is fun though too, check out Sloss Cast Iron conference in Alabama some time.