My Dad's Hands
"Your work has such a POWERFUL sense of THE FATHER." These were Alex Radin's words, his first reaction to seeing my work in person. With a smile on his face, this memory warms me inside.
I’ve been drawing my dad’s hands since I was a little girl. He was always so strong and when he was near, our home felt safe. His hands and feet became my normal for what hands and feet should be like artistically. In college, he was patient enough to allow me to make some plaster casts as I focused in on mastering those 3 frontiers that make or break the figurative artist: hands, feet, and faces.
I want to honor my Dad. Though I don’t believe in luck, lucky is how I feel. I’ve heard it said that a person’s foundational experience with their father lays the groundwork for later belief or unbelief in God. He’s made it easy for me to believe that God is good and I’m thankful for him.
For those who haven't had a positive model of what a Father can be, just know that father is a top-down concept, given by God to men to model His likeness and character to the world. Being human, many fail in this responsibility and those whoe are hurt may throw away the concept altogether. But God is a Father to the Fatherless (Pslam 68), is family for the orphan (John 14:18). He can be to you what your earthly father wished he could be for you, but couldn't because of his humanity. In God is protection, provision, rest, home. All you have to do is ask Him.
