Studio Friday - My Working Hands

Thanks to Andrea for suggesting this topic. I could go a little crazy with this topic. If I had a scanner I'd show you the college photos I did of my hands. When I created that series I discovered how many lines my hands have - they have always seemed old. I've been told by more than one person that it means I'm an old soul. Whether or not I'm an old soul I do know that making art is touching the soul. It's at the finger tips. I've always kept my fingernails short so they don't get in my way while working - but I do admit to a bad habit of biting them.



Ah, clay feels sooooo good. FYI holding a camera one handed - getting it to focus - and NOT getting clay on the camera takes a huge amount of technique!
Living in a dry place and working in clay means a constant battle to keep my hands from drying out to the point of cracking! Those cuticles need some lotion!



Here is my hand painting on underglaze to a bisque fired butterfly - sorry it's not more in focus - but you get the picture. I just have to say that I love painting underglaze - I go into a trance and the glaze while wet smells kind of like the first raindrops that hit the pavement. As you can see I am right handed - I have always been so envious of left handed people. I happen to know a lot of them - I even married one.



Just yesterday I picked up the finished work I created in my class at Santa Fe Clay. See, I work my hands to create hands. This is supposed to be a trivet - but it warped a little in the final glaze firing -



This last piece comes from my Semanas series from 2004. In that series I created a piece a week for a year for a total of 52 weeks. It just fits this topic so well....I even have the phrase "working hands" in it.

Given my passion for this topic you can bet I'll be traveling around to see all the other hands. Go to tinesparkles -Studio Friday to link to more!