By Sylvia O’Brien / Colour Theory

Do you remember the first time your parents let you paint a wall?

 I was eleven & had been pleading for at least a year to  paint  my half of the bedroom I shared with my sister. I guess part of it was staking claim on my own ‘space’ ,even though we shared the same air.
My dad, a patient man, supervised the whole process and taught me all the little painter’s techniques he knew… tapping the brush against the inside of the can to push more paint into the bristles…painting an edge in against the woodwork first with full concetration & knitted brow…not leaving the clean-up to him or my mother! All good lessons for an aspiring painter to grasp.
My own son started earlier.
He was three & a half when he wanted to contribute to the exterior painting I was conducting one warm spring day. Nothing could sway his interest…He was on a mission as only a child of that age can be.
By the time he’ d said “but why not mummy?” the millionth time, the answer dawned on me.
I gave him a  small can and a brush and set him to work painting the deck  floor……. He happily painted the deck, seeing it darken as he worked, never suspecting that what was in the can was….water!
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Sylvia O’Brien is a colour consultant and creative director of Colour Theory, Toronto, Canada

416-766-6789
http://www.colourtheory.net/