In addition to my graphic arts work I am a painter. After years of painting with oil, acrylic, gouache, and pastel, I have reverted to the simplest of painting techniques... fingerpainting.

Using my finger rather than a brush is like talking with my hands and sculpting in paint. Fingerpainting is drawing in paint, rather than drawing with paint. It is more like etching and scratchboard, where the artist scrapes away the medium to reveal the underlying surface as the picture. The contrast of figure and ground reveals the artist's vision.

Fingerpainting in tempera is a very spontaneous and quick technique. The paint dries quickly and must be manipulated without hesitation. There is no re-working or changing anything. Once the surface is ready and the paint is spread, the painting usually takes only a few minutes to complete. However, it did takes years of practice, gesturing in paint, to achieve this style.

In 1997 I received the President's Award and a cash prize for a fingerpainting of a grasshopper at a San Antonio Art League annual show. That painting has since been sold through The River Gallery in Reno, Nevada. New fingerpaintings of wildlife will soon be available at The River Gallery.

Click the Grasshopper or the Next Button below to see scanned samples of this work. Fingerpaintings are not only found on refrigerators anymore. Now they are available in a fine art gallery. Imagine that!

 

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