A distinct creation need not be an absent God
All creation is separation.
The artist and birth images make the world's distinctness emotionally vivid: a creation can be loved without its creator endorsing everything it does. But 'separation' needs qualification if it is read as a theological definition. Aquinas explicitly affirms both God's transcendence and his presence within creatures. In Summa theologiae I, q.8, a.1, God is present as the cause of their existence, rather than as a constituent part; being above things does not prevent this presence. Aquinas, q.8
The detached artwork analogy has a further limit. In I, q.104, a.1, Aquinas distinguishes making something from sustaining its existence: a house survives its builder's departure, but creatures depend continually on God. On that account, Chesterton's 'breaking off' can express a distinction between creator and creature, but cannot mean that the creature subsequently exists independently. The comparison clarifies the metaphor's force without making it a complete account of creation. The inspected witness is the English Dominican translation, second revised edition (1920), on New Advent; the medieval work was composed c.1265–1273. Aquinas, q.104; chronology
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