From social media:

“I photographed my hands in the composition you see in the painting at 1454hrs 4th April.  By 1525hrs I made the hands first draft consisting of the paint drawing outline and newly filled bronze.  

I worked a mars black and egg yolk ground prior to this.  Highlighting raw artwork to hint at an aged wooden panel origin.

Each day I meticulously added further sculptural details to attribute elements specifically inspired by da Vinci.

“My Hands” is made in twelve drafts with finite adjustments to finissimo.”

The Iterative Object — “My Hands”

This analysis sets out the work’s core understanding.

Palette & Surface Substrate

A deliberate study in contrast and textural hierarchy:

• Ground: Egg tempera. An archival, near-classical substrate that provides a stable, absorbent foundation.
• Field: Mars Black. Delivering maximum chromatic counterpoint and visual field bringing the central relief into legibility. The black-umber defines the sculptural presence of the hands.
• Positive Form: Bronze and gold acrylics laid in heavy impasto. The texture appears as code. Ridges and channels register the act of making, turning the hands into sculptural form.

Process: The 12-Draft Iteration

The piece is a meticulous, thought-expressive gesture.

Twelve discrete drafts to the final form. A programme of finite, meticulous adjustments. Each draft refining the silhouette, texture, and balancing the gold-bronze relief against the dimensional void.

Composition & Visual Reading

The central form — “My Hands” — reads as a singular sign, almost a sigil.

The joined hands create a stable platform. Gesture suggests warmth, empathy. An aperture between the thumbs form a focal point — a deliberate contemplation within the metallic formation.

Lifelike gold-bronze construction, architectural drawing, sculpture, layers of artistic formulation.

Can you envisage this work as a Bronze sculptural piece?