“a bird in hand” – click image to enlarge

A pal of mine has an ongoing art project called “Hand in Friendship” that many people are finding quite inspirational. Through the project acquaintances are invited to trace their hand and make it into something creative to send in for a feature on the project website.

The variety of interpretations by friends who have submitted their hand in friendship is delightful.  Many different types of papers, hand shapes, methods of reproducing hands, decorative styles and expressions of personality make for an intriguing display.

I find the concept pretty ingenious in terms of both creativity and human connection.  Take a part of yourself, create an effigy of it, turn it into a manifestation of your own creativity and give it to someone else.  An utterly personal and symbolic way of reaching out to someone.  As the recipient, you hold a physical and representational piece of someone in your own hand and you keep it with you in your possession. Quite a paradoxical long distance, yet intimate, exchange of unique significance.

When I learned of the project I sent in a simple first contribution.  My creativity was absolutely piqued though. A list of hand themed artistic ideas has pranced through my mind and over the past year this project has repeatedly come back to my thoughts.

Pictured here is my second contribution of my hand in friendship. “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”  I find that proverb thought provoking and enjoyable. The ferny green background is sourced from flickr user Irina T under a creative commons license.  The bird is from my favorite source of vintage images, The Graphics Fairy.  It’s a simple collage, but a favorite among my creations owing to the thought and preparation that went into putting it together.  I’m glad to have the chance to participate in such a nice art project.

See more of my collage work.