The Heartbreak of ... Pastel

If you're of a certain age, you'll remember the phrase, "The Heartbreak of Psoriasis" from a TV commercial.  Well, there's a more terrifying scourge for the pastel painter - split fingernails and cracked fingertips.  Working with pastel is like working in the garden.  Dirt sucks all the natural oils out of your fingers, and so does pastel.

The unhappy creature depicted above is my right thumb.  I've been painting in pastel all week, and this is the result.  The cracks are painful and sometimes, they bleed.  Other fingers on that hand look like that, too.  If you're asking, yes, I did remember to use a barrier cream (Gloves in a Bottle) but that only carries me so far.  I've also tried gloves, but they aren't tight enough around the fingertips to keep from getting in the way.

The stylish decorator-color finger cot

The solution is the finger cot.  Yes, it does look like its cousin, and it, too, has a preventative use.  It comes in different sizes - I have big hands, so this is the "large" version - and also in latex or nitrile.  You can get it in white, blue, purple and probably other colors, as well. (Try this Amazon search to find them:  Medi-First Latex Finger Cots, Blue, Large #70035, made by Medique Products, Fort Myers, FL 33967, 1-800-634-7680.  There are a variety of places to get them at a variety of prices.)

Now, stop snickering and get back to work.

But wait - I forgot to remind everyone about my 2015 calendar and my holiday art sale.  Christmas is coming!