"Music from Heart" (oil on stretched canvas, 16" x 20") sold

sold

The flutist's beautiful regal face and braided hair caught my eye during a Christmas concert at the Mormon Temple.  There were actually hundred other young musicians playing the flute, as the Suzuki flute teachers in the Washington metropolitan area show off their students' accomplishments with holiday melodies every December.  It was this poised college senior, however, who inspired me to paint the flute and the hands.

There are artists who can paint reflective surfaces with their eyes closed.  I am not one of them.  The hands were as tricky.  I had them so big (did you notice when you obsess with something, it tends to become magnified?) that, but for my teacher, Diane Tesler, the girl would have ended up with a giantess' hands!  Someone in the class asked if she were my daughter.  I told her that I didn't have an African-American child, but I would be proud to have a daughter like her.

Hands and Feet (graphite on newsprint; 18" x 24")

"Hands" (graphite on newsprint)

When I was painting "At the Aquarium", I had a hard time painting the hand of the figure.  Initially it looked like a rubber glove, not a hand.  The great masters are famous for their hands (and feet); you can tell an inexperienced painter from her awkward hands.  This year I decided to improve my figure drawing by taking classes, and to kick off my plan I took the Hands and Feet Workshop with David Carter at the Art League School in Alexandria, VA this weekend. 

In the mornings the five students diligently studied bones, muscles, and tendons; in the afternoons, we drew hands and feet from slides and a model who happened to be also the instructor.  The above drawings are results of the workshop.  There is no way one can learn all there is to know about the drawing of hands and feet in one weekend.  But I am happy to report that I no longer have the phobia of these extremities.  As David said, all it takes is knowledge, observation, and practice.