FINGER PAINTING

When you hear the words finger painting you would most probably immediately think of apron- wearing preschoolers with paint- stained finger tips creating multiple mess-terpieces to be placed under alphabet shaped magnets as parent proud refrigerator art. You probably have childhood memories of sitting at a little table, dipping your fingers into thick brightly coloured paint and nodding your way around a sheet of smooth, shiny paper. These paintings were usually formless squiggles, blobs and lines created from a child's carefree lack of inhibition.

This creative art form has been used with both children and adults for artistic expression, therapeutic and developmental purposes and has been around for centuries. Finger painting is painting done with the hands and fingers instead of a brush. The paint is thick and tends to be a bit greasy and works best when applied to a smooth, slick surface, or glossy paper.

Children of all ages love to paint. Finger Painting allows even a two-or-three year old to dabble in this art when it is difficult for them to do it with a paint brush. The great thing about painting with children is that each painting is truly a work of art to them. Finger Painting with children can also be a great way for them to experiment, learn cause and effect, and learn about colours and how they mix.

Finger Painting as an art form results in a real.bond between the artwork and artist and allows for some intricate blending not achievable with brushes. This type of painting is so addictive that one does not stop after the first or second effort but continues on completely hooked on to the art form. Subsequently, the artist discovers deeper levels and comes out with amazing pictures which would not have been possible with a brush.

When toddlers begin to paint, they may not be able to control a paint brush or paint that is too drippy. It is better for parents to introduce the idea of painting to young children with finger paints instead. The live the gooey feeling of paint oozing between their fingers. The little ones like to watch different designs develop on the paper. Most of them also like the mess that comes along with finger painting. And yet a lot of parents never introduce the art of finger painting to toddlers or young children because they fear the disastrous mess it will leave.

 When toddlers grow to become young and begin to work with paint, they are not concerned about creating a work of art, but they are most interested in how things feel and what happens to the paint as it is applied in different ways. They will probably not be able to make a painting of something, and should be encouraged to manipulate the paint in different ways.

Parents should work on their own painting and try to find various ways to use the paint to make lines, dabs and shapes. Begin things very simply by offering only one colour. By using  only one colour to begin, the child is focusing on how the paint cane be manipulated. Have an ongoing conversation with your child and exchanging whats happening while painting, heightens excitement. After children have mastered the application of paint to a surface, introduce another colour and allow them to play with the new colour in relationship to the first colour. Ask questions as you work together with the paint. Talk about the colours and the names of the colours. 

Time to discuss what happens when the colours mix together. One needs to experiment first with dilution of these colours and mixing these paints in various combinations. At different dilution levels, the artist can get an amazing range of different tints of the mixed colours. A brief colour guide is shown below:

So, get your fingers into the paint, move it around - experiment and enjoy. Here is an example of finger painting of a caterpillar:

• Dip a middle finger in some blue paint and a pointer finger in some yellow paint. Press down a blue finger, then a yellow finger. Keep going! You have painted a caterpillar's body. 
• Dip the thumb into some yellow paint and press it down to make the caterpillar's head. Move your thumb around in a smudgy circle to make the head big enough. 
• Using the little finger, draw the feelers above your caterpillar's head in red. Finger-dot lots and lots of red feet and add some red spots. Finger-dot some blue eyes and blue markings above the yellow bits. Dip the thumb into green paint to add clumps of grass for the caterpillar's feed.

Finger painting suits one's natural flair. One can see things happen quickly - some paintings are finished in less than an hour. Fine details of the animals is possible with nails, and skin texture drawn through paint leave some remarkable striations and effects which are very difficult to achieve with brushes. 

There are many adults who are active finger paint artists and have displayed great works of art using the technique. Finger painting provides more personal satisfaction than years with traditional methods. Getting one's hands into the paint and moving it around feels good. There is a spontaneous and personal connection between what is going on inside and what is about to happen outside on the paper. The ancient Chinese artists believed their spirit flowed out through their fingertips and that it instilled a part of their soul in each painting.