I was spontaneously inspired to paint hands this weekend (???) so I went with it. Last week ended up becoming the perfect storm of downer circumstances (starting with the tragic news of what happened in Vegas) and it hit me with a sadness that I didn’t see coming. By Friday afternoon, after a few days in this funk, I looked down at my hands and thought that painting my nails would make me feel better. However, I didn’t have time to do so…and even if I did have the time, I reasoned, it would not be worth it since the polish chips after a day, and I can never seem to find the motivation to remove the ugly, jagged color splotch. 

Then, literally like a lightning strike, I was “told” to paint hands. I taped down red paper to protect my dining table from splatters. I ran to the closet and took my paints off the shelf. I grabbed a pile of white card stock and set my timer for 21 minutes (all the time I had left in the afternoon before I needed to get ready for work).

These pages are what resulted in those 21 minutes of ferocious painting. I got better with each new piece of cardstock I worked on. The first few hands looked more like plants, with no shape or differentiation between fingers (and using teal didn’t help either). I realized I liked the skin tones better…and that lavender paint. I realized that starting the shape of the palm first, and extending the the fingers after, made more real-looking hands. // I was not quite sure what I was on to, but I liked it.

The next morning, I decided to digitize my favorites of the bunch into an 8 x 10 inch printable that calls for you to ‘paint the nails.’ // I kind of love it, and to download and print it for yourself, click the following link:

‘PAINT THE NAILS’ PRINTABLE

I ended up drawing nail polish on them with Tombow Dual Brush Pens, and with that this creative little project felt completed. // I tend to use paper to convey things I can’t actually have or do. In the past, I’ve used paper to problem solve, soothe, and express excitement.  I used to color in Christmas coloring books all December long because Christmas was too long to wait for! I used to sketch myself having fun at my elementary school’s parking lot bazaar the week the carnival crew started constructing the rides. // These hands & this printable seem to be grown up examples of the kind of paper art I used to make when I was young…and I think only positive things come from tapping back into to something you loved to do when you were young. Do you agree?

Also note: with the completion of this printable came a seemingly fun and powerful new idea to entertain, and I saw visions of a possible new passion project to pursue. I’m excited to explore that idea further, and I’m pretty convinced it wouldn’t have come to me if I hadn’t acted on my spontaneous impulse to paint hands and put polish on them.

In short: go creatively crazy when the mood strikes, and see what happens. xoxo!