Easels Debut

I was recently reading my old blog posts and discovered it was THREE summers ago when Dad built some easels for the kids. Though I keep thinking about getting them out, it wasn't until this weekend that we actually did. We started with a pretty easy-to-clean project: watercolors! I didn't give them much instruction, just a few tips about adding water to the paint and rinsing it between colors. Jon's favorite discovery was that the squirt bottle would change the design. Maddie got impatient -- I guess her imagination moved faster than her hands, because she eventually ended up painting with a brush in each hand. Will got a bit frustrated trying to paint a dragon, but when I reminded him he could make anything he wanted to, he decided it looked more like a dead camel, so he added a hunter killing it. Ben was determined to draw stripes, and his picture looked a lot like the black garden fence he was facing. He creatively named the painting "Black stripey things." Can you tell they are having fun?

The final paintings - Will's, Jon's, Maddie's, Ben's.