Hands of Life

I thought this was a wonderful piece to start this blog.  It is in the beginning phase, but it is personal.  Two years ago, I was involved with Art in Bloom at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.  The piece we interpreted that year was a Plains Indian blanket with 4 red hands on it, silk ribbons, beads...   I thought it was beautiful, so I thought about somehow doing a similar piece.  I purchased a piece of black wool, shrunk it down, and then waited.  I waited for 2 years while trying to decide what to do.  In February it came to me.  I wanted the hands of Mark, myself, and Jack.  I want him to know of the hands that loved him, even when we are no longer here.  So on 2.15.2015, the day after Valentine's Day, we laid our hands down & traced them into the black wool.  Mark's represent the water, mine the earth I love to garden, and Jack's task hands the combination of water and earth.  Check out the Friendship Blanket that is the inspiration (photo is courtesy of the Minneapolis Institute of Art).