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The hands are the tools every artist requires to create with. Hand pain can be very debilitating to anyone who performs repetitive hand and finger motions. Pain to wrists, thumb muscles and finger knuckles are common among artists. This is because of the simple fact of the stress the hands undergo constantly in the processes of pottery-working, bead-working, sculpting, drawing, writing, painting, knitting and playing a musical instrument. *Having a strategy to minimize and ultimately avoid this unpleasant and distracting issue of pain is of great value to such individuals. Not only will it make working more pleasurable it should also aid in improving productivity.


Our Hands sculpture as on display in Chico CA

Our Hands, City of Chico, CA
Donna Billick, 2000

Our Hands sculpture as on display in Chico CA





Aside from medicinal treatments such as menthol-based ointments and pain relief pills there are other things that can help manage existing pain. For soothing aching or stiff joints thermotherapy is a common treatment method. Knowing the nature of the pain or what is causing it is the key to effective hot and cold treatment of pain. 

Cold therapy is best applied immediately after the onset of pain that may occur from overworking the joints and muscles of the hands.  This is especially the case in pain resulting from an injury such as an over-extension or from the repetitive blunt trauma that occurs when pounding out clay, for example. The way cold therapy works is by decreasing the flow of blood to the area which minimizes the pain caused by swelling. Cold therapy is applicable in many ways including the use of gel cold-packs, iced compresses or by submerging hands and wrists in water with ice cubes.

Hot therapy is best used when pain is due to joints being stiff or to treat persistent muscular pain.  Stiff muscle pain usually comes on after having to hold the hand in a fixed position for a lengthy amount of time.  Think of how your hands feel after holding a paint-palette, a crochet needle, or gripping a chisel for an extended period.  Heat therapy is applicable in basically the reverse version of cold therapy: heated gel-packs, hot compresses or by submerging hands and wrists in just bearably hot running water. Remember not to use hot therapy if there is swelling and do not use it on broken skin (e.g. wounds, surgical stitches).

In order to prevent hand pain here are some guidelines specifically for artists:

  • Pay attention to posture. While seated or standing in the position you approach your art work consider these ergonomic concerns: Do you feel as though your back is supported? Is there sufficient light? Is there enough room to freely move your elbows and arms as you work? Straining the hands can occur due to one or more of these issues causing extra compensation in hand movements. Examine your work space for simple fixes you can make to add support, space and light.  If any of these factors are lacking you could be working in an awkward position causing more stress on your hands and wrists.  Change your angle, change your grip or even change your equipment or tools that you work with.  The small things can make a huge difference.
  • Remember to take breaks while doing artwork. When there is a deadline or inspiration has endowed you with more creative energy than usual it can be very tempting to power through even when you feel your hands are cramping. Listen to your signals and pause; your project will still be there when you come back to it later. Breaks do not mean you have to sit still or take a nap.  What is important is that you vary the motion of what you are doing. Fun and light activities during your break like taking a short walk, playing with your pet, or tending your houseplants can be rewarding and also allow your hands to relax.  This way you return to your artwork ready to begin again refreshed.
  • Make it a habit to occasionally flex your wrists, make circular motions to turn them palm facing upward and palm facing downward, or make fists and rotate clockwise and counter-clockwise. This enhances circulation and stretches the muscles effectively combating stiffness.  Surgeons and massage therapists both employ this exercise regularly to be able to perform at their best.
  • Thermotherapy – yes, again - for the aim of prevention instead of treatment of existing pain the pattern of application is typically either cold/hot/cold or hot/cold/hot.  Pay attention to what is most effective and make these treatments part of art-breaks.  You may even try working on a particularly intensive project after a hot bath or shower so that your wrists are warmed up and less stiff.
compression glove, stress-relief glove, wrist pain relief
  • Wear stress-relief gloves that support the muscles of your hands to decrease strain while you work. These gloves have been specifically designed with crafting in mind, so they are finger-less and made of durable material. You can find them in art supply stores usually in the knitting/needle working section.

If the pain is not treated properly, the injured part of the hand does not rehabilitate. In such a scenario involving the hands of an artist, it is possible that they would have to give up practicing their craft.  I hope this article helps you take good care of your hands so you can stay pain-free and keep making wonderful art. 

*The advice in this article is not meant to replace traditional medical treatment. If you experience recurring or intense pain, please follow the recommendations of a physician as needed.




Our Hands at top of this essay is public domain 

Developed in the 1860s early impressionists broke the rules of then established academic painting. They began by giving colors and shades primacy over lines. Radicals in their time, they set out to recreate the sensation in the eye that views the subject, rather than simply recreating the subject. The rise of the impressionist movement is often considered a reaction by artists to the newly established medium of photography.


Afternoon tea party. Digital ID: 1266694. New York Public Library
Afternoon Tea Party. Mary Cassatt


Bazille, Frédéric - Chailly
Chailly. FrĂ©dĂ©ric Bazille

Initially photography's presence seemed to undermine the artist's depiction of nature and their ability to mirror reality. Both portrait and landscape paintings were deemed somewhat deficient and lacking in realism as photography produced true to life images in a quicker more efficient fashion. The photographer taking fixed or still images through the reliable film exposure process challenged painters as a new way of capturing reality.

One of the key factors to keep in mind when looking at art of this style is the lack of fine detail.  This is due to the emphasis of impressionists to portray the overall visual effects instead of details. Short, thick strokes of paint are used to quickly capture the essence of the subject. They abandoned traditional perspective, and avoided the clarity of form which was previously how paintings were distinguished as having greater and lesser elements in a picture.  This has resulted in many critics accusing impressionist paintings of looking unfinished or amateurish. The perception of such critics is enlightened by understanding the meaning of the word impression: “an idea, feeling, or opinion about something or someone, especially one formed without conscious thought or on the basis of little evidence” - Oxford dictionary (American English).  Impressionism draws on the senses not so much the sensibilities.

The use of color is also an important key in identifying impressionist works. The Impressionists loosened their brushwork, and lightened their palettes with pure, intense colors. Colors are applied side-by-side with as little mixing as possible, creating a vibrant surface. Impressionists used mixed and pure unmixed color, not smoothly blended or shaded as was customary, in order to achieve the effect of intense color vibration. The optical mixing of colors is intended to occur in the eye of the viewer. Grays and dark tones are produced by mixing complementary colors. In pure impressionist paintings the use of black paint is avoided.

Edouard Manet - Grand Canal Ă  Venise (1874)
Grand Canal in Venice. 1874 Edouard Manet
"There are no lines in nature, only areas of color, one against another."-Edouard Manet

Impressionist painters purposefully took the act of painting from the studio to the outside world changing the effect of light in their paintings. Previously most still-lifes and portraits as well as landscapes were painted indoors. The impressionists found that they could capture the transient effects of sunlight in the moment by painting en plein air (outdoors).  

Using the en plein air technique, shadows are boldly painted with the blue of the sky as it is reflected onto surfaces, giving a sense of freshness and openness not captured in other types of paintings. Blue shadows on snow are the effect said to have inspired this technique. Painting in the evening produces effets de soir - the shadowy effects of the light in the evening or twilight. The evening lighting would look no different from the mid-day when done with the subject indoors instead of outdoors.  Lighting is an important element of impressionism, not all paintings are done en plein air, however, it is highly regarded by purists.


Garden scene by Renoir
Garden Scene in Brittany. 1886 Pierre-Auguste Renoir


"If the painter works directly from nature, he ultimately looks for nothing but momentary effects; he does not try to compose and soon become monotonous."-Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Another factor to look for in impressionist paintings is how the paint was applied. Impressionists do not exploit the transparency of thin paint films (glazes) which other styles of artists build up carefully to produce effects. The surface of an impressionist painting is typically opaque. Wet paint placed into wet paint “alla prima” without waiting for successive applications to dry produces softer edges and an intermingling of color. The paint is often applied impasto which has a thick texture that seems to be oozing out from the canvas.


Sailboat landscape art
RĂ©gate Ă  Argenteuil. circa 1872 Claude Monet

As outlined in this article impressionist paintings can be determined by taking into consideration the following key factors:
  • lack of high detail with boundaries blurred suggesting a three-dimensional plane, rather than a clearly realistic depiction 
  • colors not smoothly blended yet close attention paid to the reflection of colors from object to object
  • the play of natural light is emphasized
  • use of thick brush strokes producing a nontransparent finished painting  


images used in this essay are public domain. Courtesy: The New York Public Library and Wikimedia Commons
There is a visual art movement on the rise that is made up of artists who are not concerned with whether The Art World recognizes their art. The main defining characteristic of Lowbrow art is that most people generally do consider it art. Lowbrow refers to underground, tattoo, comic, cartoon or street art. In the midst of this relatively new art period there are still critics who choose to largely ignore Lowbrow art. Ironically, Lowbrow being deemed as a legitimate movement has been decided by The Art World. It has garnered the attention of many art collectors who understand the way an emerging art tends to transition from thumbing its nose at fine art to it itself becoming fine art.

Impressionism, Dada, Expressionism, Surrealism, and Fauvism progressed in a similar manner as Lowbrow finds itself in progress today. Traditional art critics in Europe literally lowered their brows at the French Impressionists.  These same people rejected the work of Van Gogh.  During the modern art movement at the start of the 20th century Dadaists found acceptance by the curated art world and became highly promoted.

Rat Fink, At the Harrah's Auto Collection essay
 Photo Credit: Nick Ares
 
CC BY-SA 2.0
In the 1990s artist Robert Williams founded the Juxtapoz art magazine showcasing Lowbrow artists. Prior to that, Lowbrow art can be traced to the hot rod and surf cultures in Southern California creating Rat Fink and Kustom Kulture in the late 1950s. During the 1960s, Lowbrow underground Comix like Zap were conceived. Over the years, Lowbrow has taken on many influences from pop culture such as psychedelic art and punk rock culture. With what is referred to as Retro, Lowbrow artists are keeping the legacy of the 20th century alive. Most lowbrow artworks are 2D, yet there are also sculptures and art toys - notably the customized vinyl toys.

Lowbrow artists typically poke fun at convention. Perhaps taking a cue from Pablo Picasso:

 "Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist,"

...they know the "rules" of art, and purposefully choose to break them.  If you have a sense of humor, then there is something from the Lowbrow movement for you.  Humor is always present whether in a joyous, childish or sarcastic manner. Lowbrow art is commonly labeled in various different ways: underground, urban, Kulture, Neo-Pop, anti-establishment, pop surrealism, visionary, alternative and even "Nobrow."

APExpo 2010 014.jpg
   Alternative Press Expo 2010 in San Francisco, California
Photo Credit: Guillaume Paumier  CC BY-SA 2.0
The critical mainstream art galleries tend to not embrace Lowbrow art. There are a growing number of exceptions to this being seen on exhibition most notably in Los Angeles and South Florida. Comic Con conventions which travel from city to city feature "Artists' Alley" sections featuring artists working with comic, sci-fi and other pop-culture influenced art. Alternative Press Expo organizes with Comic Con.

Staple! Independent Media Event in Austin, Texas, Anissa Bryant
Staple! 2014 in Austin, Texas,
Photo credit: Anissa Bryant
Staple!a strictly indie-focused exhibition in Austin, Texas has been held annually since 2005. Its founder and lead organizer Chris “Uncle Staple” Nicholas makes it a point to highlight the creators of alternative comics, webcomics, zines, fan art, toys, crafts, games, animation and graphic arts without having to compete with celebrity appearances and "special reveals" of the more mainstream Lowbrow art events. Nicholas founded the Southwest's Staple! convention for both professional and amateur independent artists,


 "a showcase for the folks who publish comics and zines and possible literary masterworks out of their own apartments."

What qualifies as Lowbrow currently includes a wide variety of artists all concentrated into one. Currently a Lowbrow artist who designs decals may be sanctioned in the same category with an artist who creates technically skilled urban murals. With time sorting different sub-classifications within the art movement itself should be expected to occur. At the present it is time to notice and begin collecting Lowbrow art to celebrate the time period from the late 50s to now to be able to pass the art and its story on to future generations.
"In writing, you must kill your darlings." - William Faulkner
2008-01-26 (Editing a paper) - 20
Source: Nic's events on Flickr
This kernel of wisdom imparted by an accomplished author is often misunderstood. How writers should correctly grasp this valuable concept and implement it in their work will be covered in this article. Faulkner's homicidal-sounding choice of words grabs immediate attention. It is obvious that he is telling authors that they need to kill things that they love and the words chosen indeed represent the gut-wrenching feeling authors experience when executing such a task. The wording may seem harsh, and for writers it is honestly a very personal and often difficult rule to follow. In order to correctly embrace the concept it is important to open your eyes to the actual meaning intended. If the written work in question is a novel, an essay, a dissertation, an article, or even a letter, killing your darlings ultimately benefits readers. It is my hope to demystify this commonly misinterpreted and wrongfully applied writing concept.

It may seem that this saying is specifically telling an author to kill off beloved characters. This is often the meaning drawn, however, that is not quite correct. Even the popular horror-fiction author Stephen King has reiterated this advice to writers with:  "Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler's heart, kill your darlings." Although King's characters often die, which is typical in horror more than in other genres, the point being made is not pertaining to characters, but actually entire segments of writing in a work. Occasionally there may be characters that will be cut from the story if without the darling segment they end up completely irrelevant; this would be a collateral damage situation in which the author must lose the character in the process of cutting out their darlings.

Here is one more quotation that actually predates Faulkner's by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch that I give here as a prelude to fully explaining the Kill Your Darlings concept: "Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it - whole-heartedly - and delete it before sending your manuscripts to press. Murder your darlings." His advice admonishes against being so attached to a piece that it is sent to be published on impulse based on only the writer's high opinion of how great it is. This impulse can be something that lasts for not mere seconds but actually over long periods of time. The idea is that there is an emotional connection making it dear for the author, but this does not translate for the readers by default.

Here is the lesson writers are to take from "kill (or murder) your darlings:" the point is to remove - effectively kill - the things in your written body of work that do not serve the readers well. This could be an entire piece of a story that has survived many revisions and editing passes. Something that is, in the writer's heart, held dear - a true darling - but is completely unnecessary and disposable. It can be difficult for an author to take an objective look at the writing that resulted from intense labor on their behalf. It is hard to accept that others see bits of the overall story as bad and not the precious elements that the writer liked enough to ultimately decide to include. All the parts of the whole must be scrutinized, not based on the author's personal attachment, but instead to consider the impressions of an editor and/or an objective reader prior to publishing. 

Sometimes a writer can come to a more detached state where they can be able to identify a darling piece that only exists on their whim alone, if they allow a considerable length of time to pass between writing and editing. This is a concept very similar to one applied in visual arts. For instance, many painters say that they do not reveal a work to the public, or perhaps even consider it finished until they have stashed it away for a few months and come back to it without any newly perceived misgivings.


Exclude darling elements that:
  • Obscure the subject or theme of the story
  • Stand alone and do not serve the content's purpose
  • Read like prose instead of actual storyline
  • Are redundant beyond purposeful emphasis


Remember that this advice is not telling you to cut all and anything you like or enjoy from your work; if you did that the result would be soul-less and likely unpleasant for all who read it. Sometimes you can salvage the darlings by making them more relevant to the aim of the story. Or, if they seem to be part of a completely separate story, take them out of the current story and use them in a new one at a later point. Make sure that all elements come together and add value to the overall story. No one wants to feel like they just took a trip outside the story while reading the story - an exasperating experience that can turn readers off. It is easy to fall in love with our own ideas and certain phrasing of words, so as a final act before publishing it is best to seek outside opinion. After all, in order to Kill Your Darlings they must first be identified.