The Long and Snowy Road

The wonderful Jean sent me a picture of our wonderful tunnel in the recent dump of wonderful snow.

Lovely.

Paint It Black...blue, red, green, yellow, orange, and purple.

I just arrived back from a paint-splattered morning at Little Treasures Days Nursery, Penkridge.

As part of their Half Term workshop programme they asked for The Big Art People to make them a brightly coloured sign to adorn the front entrance to the nursery.

I had 11 children helping me, who were between 3 and 9 years old. And I think they did a smashing job.

I'd like to be, under the sea.

It was an autumnal October eve when we began this mural project at the Evening Sleepover Club at Saxon Hill Special School, in Lichfield, Staffs, and last night when we finally finished it off.

We'd been asked to brighten up their dull, sterile bathroom with an undersea scene. Tim hit on a novel way to get the children (many with profound cerebral palsy) as involved as possible: we would have them paint long sheets of textured wallpaper with bright colours, then we would cut them into coral shapes and paste them onto a blue wall; we also recruited Lea Thomas, a local joiner, to cut out some chunky fish to be stuck amongst the coral reef.

First we painted the background.

Then spent a week of evening sessions getting real messy with the kids.

Several paint fights broke out over the course of these sessions. All, I must add, instigated by the Saxon Hill staff. This is typical of the good humour and joy that pervades the whole establishment, and makes it a pleasure to return again and again.

We pasted the coral onto the wall, the fish were decorated, then they were stuck onto the wall using velcro pads (this allows them to be moved and swapped around at the whim of the students).

The whole thing is bright, colourful, textured, and tactile. Perfect for the bathroom!

On a connected note, I'm running the Brighton Marathon to raise money for the charity Scope, who focus on people with cerebral palsy.

Any contribution would be greatly received: http://bit.ly/aJWNes