Just when I was on a roll, thinking I had the countdown to fifty days in my pocket – so easy, no worries – I cut myself. That is to say, I pierced my right thumb near the tip. It bled so much and so long one night I wondered if I’d be driving the forty minutes to the nearest hospital ER for a little sewing patch-up job. When the bleeding finally subsided a long while later, I audibly said, Thank you! I’m so grateful!
It wasn’t until the next morning when I sat down at my art table that I realized I couldn’t paint as usual. My landscape oil pastels require at least eight fingers engaged in the process simultaneously and it’s a very messy endeavor. I didn’t want the oils getting in my cut and there was no way I could use that thumb for holding, spreading, texturizing the pastels like I usually do. But I wasn’t going to let this deter me from #the100dayproject. So… I went ambidextrous, something I’ve relied on from time to time since childhood (though never for creative work).
What you see in the little landscape drafts below are a couple of the lefty-made, six-fingers-only oil pastel paintings, and a couple of those I made with all my fingers and both hands before the knife cut.
Workarounds: they work.
