I've been with my hands ever since I remember. Longer than my teeth, even.
When I was a baby they fit in my mouth a lot better before the teeth, actually.
But now, darn it, they have AGE spots on them. And crepey little wrinkles in places. Still, they serve me well. I became fascinated with hands as subject matter due to Albrecht Durer's hands in prayer. My grandmother had a print of it and I quite liked it. Many photographers have made a study of hands and they are considered one of the most difficult things to draw. I think it is because they are intricate, yet familiar. We THINK we know hands, but we don't. In Drawing Magazine's latest Winter issue, there is an article of how to draw the hand from the inside out, looking at skeletal structure. Jon Demartin speaks of movement and perspective and takes you through a classic process of drawing. Of drawing the gesture, of drawing the sweep of the direction of the fingers.
It's important to know the skeletal structure beneath the hand and fingers

Too, one needs to study foreshortening. This makes the fingers look as they actually do rather than what one's brain would have them look like.

Some of the fingers in this hand are foreshortened. The life drawing class I attend is helping me clear up some issues I've had in the past with foreshortening and I also find that studying some of the Masters has helped as well.

This is a pose of my hand that I've drawn many times and I enjoy drawing it. It is soberiing to reflect that I've been drawing my own hand since I was in high school and have probably only kept one or two of those sketches. One cannot keep everything one draws or paints, as everything is always in flux and sketches are made for practise, not to be held up to the world as grand works of art (unless, perhaps, you are daVinci.)
The crow is coming along slowly, as I have encountered the small intricacies of architectural detail of the fleu de lis in the cathedral the crow is landing on. Hoping to finish it some time this or next week.
My final and most exciting piece of news is that my show, Outbound Flights, at Gallery Bistro in Port Moody, is being extended to run til April 19th. This is due to the fact that the Bistro will be closed over the Easter weekend and this will give it more time for exposure.
And that's all she wrote.