The painting is just a bonus

Winter has set in here in the Northwest and that means cloudy, gray, rainy skies until May. And the sun sets at 4:30 so to get through the late afternoon, I've decided to break out the really special stuff. As you can imagine, paint doesn't come out often. I appreciate the preschool room even more now. There is a corner that is designated for painting so if it gets on the floor or wall, it just adds to the ongoing masterpiece. Of course the only corner in our house where she couldn't paint fabric was in the kitchen with bead board on the walls.

She did great though. She was actually more interested in the feel of the brushes and getting them into the cups than on the paper. That was just a bonus. I gave her one long brush that is about 14 inches and one short sponge brush. It's funny to see her really focused on something. She gets quiet and methodically explores EVERY part of it.

If you look closely at the pattern of paint on her face, you may be able to imagine the cup that was placed there in an effort to drink the paint. I was standing on a chair with Daddy's very expensive camera trying to capture the playing when she turned toward me and I began yelling..."No, stop, Lucy, don't come any closer!" That's why she looks a bit surprised.

I let her help me clean up by rinsing the brushes in the sink. This was just as exciting as the painting for her. I thought I got through the whole experience with only a couple smudges of paint on my fingers. Today, I was wearing a short sleeve shirt at one of our classes we go to. I was asked what happened to my arm. As I looked down I discovered the back of my forearm was smudged all over with red paint. Clearly I didn't make it out as clean as I thought.