I have been thinking about my childhood series and contemplating the inclusion of the children’s hands in several of the paintings. In many ways, I believe the small hands are the subject, the inspiration behind what is taking place. My own hands have played an obvious role in my life as tools of creativity. Even as a child, making and doing have always been a part of my being. Funnily enough, my childhood favourite animal was a monkey…then a raccoon, both creatures that use their own “hands” often.
When my children were born their tiny hands fascinated me as their miniature grip held my finger. As they learned to grasp the object they wanted, as their pincher fingers began to pick up the tiniest of things, it was magical watching them further explore using their hands to further their independence. It caused me to remember my own childhood hands, creative and full of discovery in nature lifting rocks, catching minnows, making shadow shapes with a flashlight.
Seeing my children’s little hands continued to enchant me as they grew, exploring the world around them, picking up stones like jewels, a discovery of a stick seemingly as precious as a bar of gold. Holding my hand like it was the most important thing to do – symbolic of the security they felt within the grasp of my own larger hand. These little hands that looked like my own, resembling and symbolizing my own childhood.