<<<< sandstones

This was a simple idea I had, off the cuff (unusually for me), to carve two hands gripping a rock. It is related to the previous carving I did 'Hero Body' in that I was interested in carving body parts as sculptural forms in their own right rather than 'missing something'. As I was progressing on it though it did seem to be a little allegorical in a way, illustrating the plight of the sculptor, being compelled to wrestle with heavy stones. 

I did enjoy observing and carving all the bones, muscles and veins in the hands, but I'm afraid the poor quality stone prevented really high-quality carving to bring extra realism. This is actually a re-carving (hence the title alteration), my first attempt in 2007 was ok but the anatomy wasn't right so I re-did it in 2009 to make it more accurate, the scale of the hands is 150% life-size.