I see the earth as a precious gift, a beautiful life-bearing gem. As tolerant and giving as any mother. I wanted the earth to be the focal point of the painting, so I depicted the hands as being lit by the moon,,,grey scale,,,neutral in contrast to the glowing earth ball. I painted the hands with the same techniques that I have used with my still life objects, except that normally I work from a photo reference. With this painting I worked from a live model - these are my own hands. Of course the challenge was when painting the right hand!