Red Hands (by Nancy Allen)

Red Hands

It was a week before Valentine’s Day. The road was packed with vehicles like hearts in a box waiting to spread their love.  Everyone was in a hurry—I know I was. I managed to edge my way into the passing lane and there she was. A woman had pulled her car across my lane and her car was moving at a snail’s pace. There was no place to go. I hit her broadside.

            “I was thinking about shopping,” she said. “I don’t know why I pulled out into all this traffic.”

            I was so thankful she was not killed. The jolt threw her under the dashboard on the passenger side of her car. The car in front of me was demolished. I had my seat belt on so I didn’t go through the windshield, but my head hit the steering wheel and I had a huge “goose egg” on my forehead that made me groggy and reduced to unintelligible jabber. When the ambulance arrived the EMT noticed my hands.

            “Her hands are red. There must be something wrong to make them red,” I heard him say.

            “No,” I tried to tell him.

            “There is something wrong with her hands,” I heard him tell the doctor he was talking to on the phone.

            “Paint,” I mumbled.

            You see, I had been having fun finger painting with a group of preschoolers. We were making heart pictures.

            Finger painting is messy and sometimes the stains stay with you, but the rewards are many:

            Spread newspaper on a hard-surface floor. Wear an old shirt to protect your clothes. Use a white shiny paper for your canvas. Dip your fingers in water and let them drip on the paper making it slightly wet, then dip your fingers in the paint and begin shaping your design. When finished place your artwork on a newspaper to dry.

            Finger paint was first used by the American educator Ruth Faison Shaw in Rome, Italy in 1931.  She found finger painting to have therapeutic and emotional healing value for people of all ages and abilities.

            Tyler Ramsey began a new technique called “Reckless Art” in 2002. He vowed never to touch a brush again and finger paints with oils. He paints in surgical gloves—not a bad idea. However, for the younger set I believe gloves would eliminate the therapeutic value of feeling the paint and getting the hands messy. Finger painting artist Nick Benjamin claims he prefers getting the fingers in the paint bonding with the artwork and achieving a blending of the paints that can’t be done with brushes. Jimmy Lee Sudduth said he likes finger painting because his fingers don’t wear out the way brushes do.

            Finger paint is non-toxic and especially good for preschoolers. If they eat some of it, there shouldn’t be a problem.         

            You can make your own paint with the following recipe:

            4 tablespoons sugar

            ½ cup cornstarch

            2 cups cold water

            food coloring

            After painting if you get into an accident remember to tell the people at the scene that you’ve been finger painting. Otherwise they may think you’re turning red or maybe even blue.