I Love My Work!

I spent a wonderful hour this afternoon painting with my little Chinese pupil and her younger sister. I had remembered that it was possible to create a fun medium composed of shaving cream, acrylic colours and glitter. The girls were thrilled and thoroughly enjoyed squeezing, mixing and stirring.

After I had got them organized, their mother offered me a sheet of paper, asking if I would like to join them. "You know me", I grinned. By this time, I had glitter in my hair and shaving cream dotted about my person.

The girls finished their paintings in about half an hour. I was still absorbed in my work.



Y nearly always paints flowers and houses. She looked at me curiously as I started to paint and asked what it was going to be. "I have no idea!", I told her. Her eyes widened in surprise at such a concept.

"This is the wrong way around", I said to their mother. "You're paying me to teach Y!" (I've been hired to teach her German, but her mother asked me to teach through art, which is just fine by me). She shrugged and said: 

"They've had enough and they're happy."

They are learning German at Kindergarten, but I gently correct their mistakes as we chat. At some point Y exclaimed "Oh mein Gott!", in adult tones.

"Where did you get that from?", I asked her. "Your Kindergarten teacher?" She nodded in the affirmative.

D later showed me her drawing slate which could be wiped clean with a swipe. She demonstrated and I said: "Alles ist weg!", with a look of amazement on my face.

"Ja, kein", she replied. That impressed me. She is only two years old, but she has figured out that she can use the word: "kein" (no/none), to indicate the absence of something or someone.

In contrast to her older sister, D is content to randomly apply different colours to her canvas, always starting with blue - her favourite. I am constantly amazed at how she manages to avoid ending up with a sludge brown mass. I love her sense of colour.

While I finished my "oeuvre", the girls donned the scraps of brightly coloured net which I had brought for a later project and danced around the room. Y got out her toy keyboard and pounded out a drum tone while D jumped up and down.

My masterpiece completed, I grabbed a piece of fabric and joined in. As the drum tone slowed into a march, I placed the netting on my head and pretended to walk down the aisle, declaring that I was getting married. Then I came to a halt and looked around in mock surprise, saying: 

"But there's no bridegroom!"

The girls and their mother giggled, and I jumped around with D for a few minutes before packing up my tools and reluctantly heading home.

I titled this painting: "Fried Eggs In Heaven", but mum said the blobs looked more like cup cakes, and good enough to eat, so I renamed it: "Cupcakes In Heaven".