Tearing Apart

So I went to my studio....


I decided I needed to add “cuffs” to the arms of my sculpture. No not those kind of cuffs! These are jacket cuffs and because the arms are upright they kind of slid down. This is a win win situation as the arms were so thin at the bottom I was worried about the stability of the sculpture. Those arms are so thin that the top heavy sculpture could easily fall over. A very practical consideration for sure but in this case necessary. As a result the whole sculpture is affected in its look and balance. Therefore now I have to make sure that in working the surface color and detail I do not distract from the focal point, being the rope and the hands.


I was on my way home after adding the jacket cuffs I suddenly remembered that I’d left the sculpture “fused” on the wood base. This was not good. Even though I’d covered it with plastic to reduce drying I knew that by the time I got back to it some drying would have occurred. As the clay dries it shrinks. Being fused onto the wood base on which it was created would mean it would tear itself up as it shrank. All night I worried and dropped in the next day just to check. Sure enough it had begun to do just that. (See photo above.) Naturally, I “unfused” the sculpture from the wooden base and did a quick repair on the tears.


Perhaps I shouldn’t have repaired it. Perhaps the tear was meant to be part of pain of the sculpture.


Maybe it represents the wound of my heart. Maybe it is everything that has ripped us apart. Both on the outside where it becomes visible to others, and on the inside,


If it shows up again, I think I’ll leave it there...


Another man dies in bitterness of soul, never having enjoyed anything good.Job 21:25