Great art night tonight.
I have refrained from introducing The Fellas to the medium of spray paint. It lends itself to the lazy application of color and I think I had some fantasy of researching “tagging” and “graffiti art” before we cracked open the aerosols. Krylon has presented itself anonymously from time to time – The Fellas fall asleep having painted their Pinewood Derby car with some spotty tempera soaking into the wood and I meet their “it doesn’t look good” with “let it dry overnight” and as soon as their heads hit the pillow, two minutes of acrylic blast and a little Crystal Clear after it dries and it looks good and shiny.
Tonight a project presented itself that called for painting some complete Lego models. The Elder got out his paints which quickly disappointed on their coverage of the plastic blocks. It was time. After a little explanation of good behavior and outdoor spraying and great ventilation we covered the model in yellow spray in about 30 seconds to oohs and ahhs from both Minions.
Then it got good.
The Elder wanted to touch up the open spots himself, and after a successful couple of minutes we hung the Lego and he looked at his yellow hands. This is his first experience with non-washable paints, and he is a young man who likes having clean hands. He disappeared for ten minutes and returned with a strained look on his face and “I can’t get the paint off”. I explained the nature of the paint and the paint thinner we’d be using to clean his hands. Then in an atypical moment of inspiration I said “how about we wait until morning to clean your hands. For tonight, look down at the paint on your hands and say ‘I am a maker. I make stuff’ and be proud of the peeling yellow memory of our project tonight.”
Then he said, “how about we clean them tomorrow night. I want to wear my ‘paint hands’ to school tomorrow.”
That’s a good night.