Here and now

So I decided to create a piece of work to do with how my MS is "here and now". with the influence of Tysabri, after being absolutely sure without I would have relapsed over this summer. I am so so so thankful for this drug and the chance to be on it "just in time" as my doctors say. so I wanted to look at some ways to create a piece of work that shows the delay in progression thanks to this fantastic drug. It all started because lately i have been spending a bit of time with a woman who has been living with MS for over 20 years now and has lost the use of her hands. One day she asked me what I would do if i ended up like her, losing the use of my hands. This got me thinking... It would be awful. I rely on my hands as much as anyone, maybe more, being an art student... I think its up there with losing my sight (again). My fear has always been my Legs going... This is the sterio-type of MS and I already know this not the case... but it still scares me! there is just as much chance of me losing the use of my hands than any other part of my Body. Anyway this started me on a series of hand drawings here are a few from my sketchbook -

2 Using the box technique I learned during the "drawing from observation" unit when drawing draw these and get back into the drawing swing... crazy how quickly you get rusty! I then drew a hand with my soft wire I'v had since the dawn of time and I LOVED IT! it was true to hand size. :)

This got me thinking in 3D now, and if I could start fattening up my hand... so i started wrapping wire around the hand to get my little 3D hand...

I then started connecting up my MS theme again and decided that it really should be an arm... because my infusion is connected in the crook of my arm. so I started building up my arm in the same way...

At this point I really needed to buy more wire. A bit of advice- if your an Art student don't buy "sculpting wire" it's far to expensive for what it is and the tiny lendth you get... Buy soft aluminium wire from DIY stores like B and Q or wherever :) you can get metres of the stuff! I used 78 meters and it hardly lasted the whole project!!! I used a range of different thicknesses too.

i have finished the arm, which I plan to insert into the ground in my garden with my new Ivy I will be purchasing. Ivy is my choice because it will cling to the arm, instead of perching or twisting round it like other climbers. This will act as my MS. Eventually consuming the hand. The weather will act as an uncontrollable effect on the arm. Like stress effect MS. I will record how my arm does as it goes on. Im getting a little stressed at the thought of starting this new course so cant really venture out into the garden, which is really say because this was exciting and I wanted it done before I started the course!i will do it this weekend.