Easel

I must have been insane to even think of fixing the easel up all by myself with Alfee hovering around me. But I did it and I don't regret it. Alfee took off in drawing and painting like a jet plane. I wasn't particularly successful in getting him interested in working with paint before, now he is unstoppable.

In fact, he was so enthusiastic that I couldn't bear to stop him even when he splattered paint all over my white homogenous tiles and stained the wooden frame of the easel. He was exploring with vertical lines and the new found freedom of a different form of communication. Sadly, my helper held his hands to create the red, horizontal lines. Otherwise, it would be really open-ended. 

I gave him another go and this time, he was truly on his own. He was meticulous in painting his vertical lines although he did enjoy watching the excess paint drip down from his paper. He also tried dabbing this time. And the end product is really great!

I told Alfee to try hand printing after I got tired of putting up big pieces of paper on the easel for him. So he tried... but it was quite funny. He was obviously uncomfortable with paint on his hands but he still did it because it was fun. Plus the fact that he could run and wash his hands as many times as he liked... or so he thought.

Sophie was also very keen on using the easel although she prefers to sit when she works. It's a pity that I cannot cater to both their heights. I can only do a compromise. Sophie likes chalk and I was hoping she can improve her pencil grip with an upright writing space. However, she still holds the chalk like a pencil.

I told Sophie she could paint anything she liked except for anything that remotely resembled a princess. So, she painted a blue, personified dog. She still uses many colours in her works, but I guess that's her style. I could tell she was much more inhibited than her brother. She used to just scribble and paint, now she thinks and tries to draw or paint what she envisions.