Feeling the Art

I pulled out the easel today with brushes and cups of red, blue, and yellow paint. Ben has painted on an easel before, but it was Will's first time. For those who don't know or maybe, don't remember :), painting on an upright, eye level surface is a totally different experience than painting on a tabletop. You can get your whole body involved when you paint at the easel. There's much less physical "stuff"--chairs, tables, elbows--to navigate; nothing interfering in the space between you and your work. Looking at your media straight on lets you get "close and personal" with what you're doing. And there is something very satisfying about furniture that is just your size. Especially when most of the things in your world are fit for much larger sized grown-up people. Easel painting is one of the best ways to really FEEL art.
Ben jumped in right away, as he's done this before, you know. Calling out color names as he feverishly moved his brushes into and out of the cups and onto the paper was his mode of operation. Very quickly after starting in, one of the most exciting, natural paint discoveries was made and announced with arms a-flailing, "GREEN!!" Man, I love those moments.

Will, the easel painting newbie, started in slow and with much wonder. He also happened to have the side of the easel that the sun was shining directly on. Perfect for gazing at the slippery paint as he made it glide across the paper in both vertical and horizontal paths. He even attempted some circles. His strokes were deliberate and all about the feel of it. It was really fun to watch him experience the joy of paint.

After a while, they both got brave and experimented with different ways of interacting with their media. Ben used his fingers and Will fearlessly took on the double-handed, cross-over brush maneuver. Whee! We just may have to do this every day.