Howard Finster, folk artist from Georgia, was a preacher for 45 years until one day in 1976, he saw a vision of a face in the fingerprints on his thumb. The face spoke to him, he said, insisting that he paint 5,000 works of sacred art. Thus he began his visionary paintings, usually on jigsawed figures ranging from Elvis, Leonardo de Vinci, model-T's and Coca Cola shrines, to self portraits with messages written in bright colors. Each finished piece was stamped with its number on the back and the time it was completed.