From Seurat to Pollock

So I posted the other day about our Q-tip Pointillism fun; well there is a part two to that story, a cautionary tale if you will, that I would like to share with you.  Our painting session had gone exactly as described, q-tips, paint, innocent fun, or so I thought.   I then unwisely gave Huwyl a second piece of paper.  That was mistake number 1.  Mistake number 2 came when I left the room for about 30 seconds to pour hot water over a tea bag.  I know, what kind of negligent crazy homeschooling loon attempts to have a hot drink in the middle of the day?  Insanity reigns.

Anyhoo, I went into the kitchen to pour hot water onto my teabag and returned to find…well let’s just say Jackson Pollock would be exceptionally proud.  Every wall, the ceiling and some items of furniture were covered in tiny spots of paint.  Aside from feeling as though I had been ensnared in some kind of time loop and that I had been gone for about half an hour, the only thought that ran through my mind was “But this is a rental house”.  Which explains why the walls are white, yes white, the most unsuitable colour for a home with small children in.

The first words out of my mouth were ‘What did you do?!” but instantly saw from Huwyl’s expression, as he looked up from his masterpiece on the table, that he had absolutely no idea what I was talking about.  Eyes wide he said “What did  I do?”,  I pointed mutely at the wall behind him and almost laughed when he jumped off his chair in surprise as he saw it covered in paint.  Both of us regarded the spattered walls with amazement, wondering if some other power had somehow intervened to create this cataclysm.

At this moment Neirin walked up to us, his hands covered in paint and, with comedy seriousness and a sincere desire to be involved, planted them firmly on the spattered wall.  Time slowed down as Huwyl and I watched him reach out his chubby, paint soaked fingers and press them against the now not so pristine white wall.  It speeded up again pretty quickly.  I am a parent, I recognised a ‘think fast act faster’ situation and went into Mum Mode.  I snatched up Neirin to stop him making things worse, made some reassuring comments to Huwyl to stop him melting down and screaming (Stephen was upstairs, asleep due to a nasty case of Strep) and raced to the bathroom.  Neirin was washed, paint things were speedily removed from the table and Huwyl and I got to work washing the walls before the paint dried.

The whole time Huwyl and I scrubbed at the walls I kept thinking ‘Don’t laugh, they’ll do it again’ but I couldn’t help myself.  Though I wouldn’t say I rolled about on the floor I did keep bursting out laughing and then saying “It’s not really funny you know” or something equally ridiculous.  It was truly a classic Mum moment.  I now have the motto Never leave the room when the paints are out, scalded on my brain and will refrain from being lulled into a false sense of security and attempting a hot cup of tea mid-crafting for at least 5 years.

So there you have it, from Seurat to Pollock in one afternoon.  I’m going to file that under ‘Art History’ and call it educational.

Huwyl and Neirin 2011