Its all in the hands!

It is well known in the art world that hands are notoriously to draw and as such many artists try to avoid them.

Early ink drawing I did in 1986

In August of the year 1823, the Spanish artist Francisco Goya wrote in his diary that he was to start on a new portrait for a new client. His new client was a wealthy man who was a rising star in the community and as such the distinguished gentleman decided it was on time to have his portrait painted.
At that time Francisco Goya was painter to the royal family and so if you were anyone you had to have your portrait painted by him.
As his new client got himself into the pose he wanted, Goya noticed that he had his hands placed on his chest, as a kind of suggestion that he was "proud" man.
"Do you want me to include your hands in the painting?" Asked Goya
"I leave that up to you?" Asked the client
"No it is up to you. Hands are difficult to draw and so the price will be higher" Told Goya
"What is the price difference?" Asked the client
"Another 20% for one hand, or 30 % for both hands" Replied Goya.
The distinguished client did not reply but instead slowly moved his hands into the pockets of his coat .

Art historians believe that the portrait below could well be the painting of the "client" Goya wrote of  in his diary.

Personally I have never feared drawing hands but instead relished in the challenge and eventually came to love to draw or paint them simply for the joy of it.

And so it was what I decided to do yesterday:

As a break from spending time on the computer checking the price of the crypto-currency market I figured I needed to get my attention onto other things.
There is nothing better than drawing to do this because you really have to put all your focus into what you are doing.
A neighbor came to visit and she brought with her a plastic container of large Blueberries.

"Perfect, those will do just nicely. Come sit here and hold some in your hands" I said excitedly.
And before she knew what as happening she was being a hand model for me.

This was the result below. Took approx two hours and 5 cups of coffee.

 
In Norway, blueberries have an almost spiritual meaning to the Norwegian people.
Berries are plentiful in the local mountains here and so they have always been a free food source and a healthy one of course. Blueberries in particular are a powerful natural antioxidant and I recommend having them as a regualar part of your diet. 

Anyways, this idea of these berries have a spiritual meaning to them got me thinking.
In the old days of art history. when artists depicted a religious theme they most often used gold paint to represent this.
And so in a bit of a quickly made decision I fetched an old jar of gold paint I had somewhere in my studio and proceeded to paint around the hands.

This was the result below.

 I cant decide if it was the right decision as yet and my neighbor is coming back tomorrow (Sunday) to tell me if she wants to buy the picture.
Well the decision is in her hands now.

Thank you for visiting my blog and welcome back next time.

@arthuradamson

The Goya painting is from the Goya collection
http://www.franciscodegoya.net/