A secret about
Hands 

I think hands are just as important as faces. But hands can be hard to draw.

For Grandfather Twilight’s hand turning the key in his wooden chest, I went to my Dad and asked if he would pose for me. “Sure, sweetie,” he said. So we found a key and he held his hand very still while I made a sketch. That was a big help!

But it was even harder to draw Gwinna’s hands playing a harp. How was I going to do that?

I was learning to play a Celtic harp at the time, but it didn’t help to watch my own hands. I could not pluck strings and draw at the same time. But I did have a video tape of Kim Robertson (my favorite harper) teaching beginners like me. So I sat in front of the TV with my sketchbook.

I used the pause button to stop the video whenever I wanted to hold her fingers still. Then I drew her hands, over and over, till I got the idea. Those are the sketches I used when I painted Gwinna playing her harp.

I also listened to Kim Robertson’s music tapes all the time. They are magical. The way she plays the harp gave me the idea for these words in Gwinna: “Fingers of light, fingers of wind, let the song of the harp begin!”