The story behind the picture: "Holding Water"

An idea came to me last night: why not tell the story behind some of my favorite pieces? No one wants to hear about what I had for breakfast (cheerios the children didn't eat, in case you were actually wondering), but perhaps you'd like to know exactly what I was thinking when I created my pieces. Or not thinking, as is often the case...

This image is one I call "Holding Water," and is in fact a photograph of my son's hands. I took Danny outside in early spring when morning light was throwing some nice shadows (never photograph at high noon! Total washout!) and had him do all manner of crazy things with his hands - as he is only four years old, I could tell him to do whatever he wanted without fear of obscene gestures. After about 30 shots, I realized the lines of his pudgy little hands weren't showing up all that well, so I asked him to go find some dirt and rub it on his palms. He happily obliged :-) When I was through, I told him he'd been a great model and had to remind him to unlace his fingers - he was so sweet and kept standing there, hands together, waiting for me to take a few more pictures. Later that night I liked what I saw on the monitor, but thought it could use a little more texture. I accidentally clicked the "saran wrap" layer in Photoshop and this was the result: definitely the happiest computer mistake I've ever made. This is the image currently on display in the "Green Exhibit" at City Hall through January 23rd, 2009 and is available on:
www.mkcphotography.etsy.com