Organic Muralism

I had forgotten how much young children like markers. All of those pretty colors! There's is something intoxicating about the brightly colored packaging and all those jewel-toned sticks that create streams of vivid color. And what better canvas could there be than...Mom and Dad's bed. Oh, yes. It's large enough to contain any creative genius that might be put forth by a budding artist and with a cotton comforter for absorbing liquid color, the possibilities are endless. A few mad scribbles here, a few there, three or four on my own body and oooooh, they are delicious too. I love markers! A few color changes. Voila. Perfection. I have become one with my art, literally!

Why did we leave him alone in our room with markers? He wasn't alone. Dad was on the laptop doing homework for one of his four college classes and Benjamin is stealthy. He is quiet and fast. The markers were extras from our school supply section of my closet where I stash all things gift related. Means, opportunity, motive and likely in need of a dose of calming meds and the scenario was inevitable. The comforter went promptly to the laundry and Benj met with a soapy cloth, but his lips are still a dark tint of blue. He couldn't have used yellow or pink, they are so pale that it would have lessened the impact.

This is not a new scenario, but it has been a long time. He also used to use organic material from his own body. We called this "Organic Muralism" to lessen the nastiness factor of cleaning someone's fecal matter off of every reachable surface in his room. (Look up Jackson Pollack, an established abstract artist who had a similar genre of art. True story). I will spare any further details, but he now has a wood floor in his room instead of absorbant and hard to clean carpet. We own our own carpet cleaner and powerful shop vac. He also enjoyed dumping out hard to clean liquids like shampoo, liquid soap, vegetable oil and raw eggs. He has also dabbled in powdered mediums like flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and laundry soap. It is taking him a long time to master his bathroom needs and when he had a "urinary protest" , we would have to clean that surface also. A big apology to whomever got to clean that clearance aisle at Walmart and the natural foods aisle at another local retailer :) If I remember correctly, the brown sugar incident was on that same comforter. It is a survivor like everyone in this household. Did I mention that we also have a three year old boy with drama and an eight month old boy that eats soil from plants and anything on the floor? I love it, most of the time.

Try reading a story book by Robert Munsch called "Purple, Yellow, Green" about a little girl who colors on herself with super-indelible, never come off until you're dead and maybe even later coloring markers. I love that story. I wonder why?