One of Santa’s surprises for the girls on Christmas morning was a much-requested, long-awaited easel (a.k.a, “a weasel”). Santa must have had a brief lapse of sanity during December because he surely knew that this gift would be a double-edged sword: a source of great delight and entertainment on one side and yet a source of much competition and unprecedented messiness on the other.
After postponing the assembly of the easel for as far into January as one could possibly justify with excuses like, “It’s too cold to paint today,” I caved and put it together on Monday. I, of course, knew that the dry-erase and chalkboard features would only satisfy for so long. So, Monday evening (a time strategically chosen so two adults would be around for supervision and post-painting scrub-downs), we broke open the good stuff.
And, glee ensued.
Clearly, I forgot to review the differences between poster paint and finger paint. Kudos to the Melissa and Doug company for making all their products “washable.” (Though they might should specify that you will need industrial-strength soap and a long, warm soak to completely remove the color stain. The Spouse’s forearm was still green on Wednesday).
After twenty minutes of switching sides and experimenting with texture, intensity, and layering techniques, we were rewarded with these two masterpieces…
Coincidentally, that will also be about the time when I have regained enough stamina to host a second painting session. 🙂
Oh, how wonderful. I expect to see these matted and framed shortly!!
Good for you Hollie. Some parents never even attempt this kind of thing because of the mess factor, and yet look at the beautiful works of art your kids have made to grace your home for all of posterity now.
Totally worth Dad being tatooed for a few days ;o)