"The Hand of God"

If you have read the book, "The Shack"

you will know were I'm going...sort of maybe...I hope...

So I went to my studio and checked out "The Hand". Removed the plastic covering which was allowing it to dry, slowly, and did the "dimple" test!

Now you have to know I have never done this before. I am reading about other artists and am absorbing the techniques they use. For larger items such as this hand (which is twice the size of my arm) it is advised that you simply create the work from a block of solid clay and do the hollowing out later, after, and this is the important part, it is dry enough to hold it's form through that process. Hence the "dimple" test! This is the test that will tell you if it indeed is dry enough to go through this process.

This is a very subjective concept. It means putting pressure in the surface with your finger/thumb and "presto" you will have your answer! This reminds me of checking watermelons for ripeness. Think of the unknowns in this...maybe I have a "heavy thumb", like some guys known for their "heavy foot" when driving a car. I mean I could create a "dimple" if I wanted to regardless of how dry it is, really.

I am realizing suddenly how much about "art" is exactly that, "an art". It's something like grandma who could make those amazing buns, no one else, even when using the same recipe could make them like her. For her it was "an art" that could not be described or explained.

And so it is with this, I cannot tell you how much pressure to put on the surface, but I will put some unknown amount of pressure on the surface and make a decision based on my best "new" untested "art sense" and go for it.

As you can see above, it worked out. I dared cutting it into three pieces and removed the access clay. The hand above is hollowed out and "welded" back together. In this case the Psa. 63:8 verse below certianly applied to me.

Next is finishing the detailing, you know, giving God a manicure etc. :-)

"...your right hand upholds me."

Psa. 63:8