Extreme Painting
No matter what our age most of us humans love water. We are drawn to substances in their liquid state. Water is what we are predominantly made of and its presence is necessary for all life. No wonder children who are good at focusing on essential matters like eating, sleeping, running, jumping, playing love liquids! Water squirts, spills, splashes, seeps, sticks, and takes the shape of any vessel you put it in. It comes in many states and is infinitely changeable. So when it comes to paint, it is also no surprise that children love it also. Not only is it a liquid but it comes in different colors! Like water paint has fantastic properties to explore. Different paint behaves differently and children quickly learn this as they play.
The painting we do in the spring, that has become known as extreme painting, is all about getting to know what tempera paint can do. It also satisfies the ever present desire in most children to make things move. Flinging paint on a surface and witnessing the surprising results never loses its appeal. Not everyone appreciates Jackson Pollock's canvasses but few can deny that his process looks fun!
Marbles as objects are beautiful things and as they make their pathways through wet paint they take on another life. They become the painters and the children the witnesses (with a little bit of input as the movers of the tray).
As for body painting, all you have to do is see a child paint their arms and legs blue and witness the delight, enthusiasm- the transformation and you will know it is good! I have seen sweet girls paint their hands black and their inner witch comes to the surface. Boys turned to spots or stripes jump and growl as the animal emerges. I am not an anthropologist but their has to be something universal and primal in body painting. It is involved in so many rituals that give meaning to cultures. In my driveway we are light in ritual and heavy in paint!