Painting on a Dark and Rainy Day

Bow and I are getting tired of being cooped up inside almost all the time. It has been dark and rainy almost every day for the past few days. This morning, I thought I would try to paint, but Bow asked if he could paint, too.

I was skeptical, because of his tendency to want to consume the acrylic paint, but I decided to try to give him another chance. He is maturing. He is less destructive. Maybe he could do better now.

I had to constantly remind Bow that the paint was not food. But he did do some painting between sampling each color to see how it tasted. He also mixed the colors and made new colors.

One of the things Bow did that seemed a little new was that he sometimes put the handle of the brush in his mouth and then painted with the other end.

 Some people who don't have hands do paint this way. I decided not to tell Bow it was wrong, because he does have a very sensitive mouth, and he seemed to be able to control the brush as well with his mouth as with his hands.

By the time Bow was done painting, he had mixed all the colors together and got a very rich brown.

The ultimate painting so produced looked like this.

Later it got even darker and it started to rain. Bow was very subdued. He hates the rain, but he did not seem to feel as much of a need to protest it.

After the rain let up, Bow took another nap. And now he is just lounging about. And that's just part of the morning.

Dabbling in Paint

The weather has continued to be odd. I was awakened early this morning by thunder and rain sounds, and Bow was a little upset before breakfast. To cheer us up, I decided to bring in some painting supplies as a morning activity.

Bow looked on with interest, as I prepared the art supplies.

After he had eaten, Bow spelled: אני רוצה לציר "I want to draw." But what he really wanted to do was get his hands on the art supplies and test them out in many unorthodox ways. He got paint on his nose, paint in his mouth and paint on his hand, as well as some paint on the canvas.

Bow knows what the supplies are for. It's just that he won't limit himself to painting. He wants to smell, taste and experience the supplies in many other ways. However, each time I chided him for putting the brush in his mouth, he went back to painting on the canvas.

He was also just plain fascinated by the many different kinds of brushes I supplied...

... and by the old can of olives that they came in.

In the end, this is the painting Bow produced. Is it representational? I think not.

Next time I think I will limit him to one color and one paint brush. Maybe without so many choices Bow will concentrate on the task at hand. But it was a good way to keep ourselves entertained, when going outside was not an option.