It is Pinewood Derby time and Rehm has been working on his car for the last two weeks. He and Michael got out Michael's cars from when he was a cub scout and Rehm used one of those as the inspiration for the shape of his car. But the car is definitely completely 100 percent a Rehm original.
We went today to buy the paint for the car. We went with the intentions of buying a bright green. When we got to Michael's Rehm was delighted by the number of paint color choices he was presented with. We found a neon, glow in the dark, green that he said was the one. Then he found glow in the dark medium that could be added to any color and a blue he wanted to use for an accent color.
When we got home we painted some of both on a piece of paper and he decided he wanted to use the blue for the main color of the car. We got all the coats of the blue on and took it in the closet to see how it glows. Then I suggested using black for the accent color, so that the accents would not glow, allowing the pattern to show even in the dark. Rehm liked this idea and the Blue Ghost was born.
At some point during the painting Rehm asked, "Mommy, how did you get so good at painting?" He acted completely shocked that I knew anything about how to mix paint, or brush techniques or secrets like using the hair dryer to dry the paint quicker. All techniques I honed back in my college days of painting ceramics to relieve stress during exams with my dear room mate Jill.
It is nice when your child is impressed, not matter how unduely, with something you can do.
Jenn
PS all pictures were taken with the camera on my phone, thus the reason for the poor quality. My new camera is still not here - it was in OK as of 4am today. Assuming it will arrive on Monday.
When is your derby?! Ours isn't until March though we have already blueprinted out design and gone to look at paint, decals, and other accessories. (Did you weight it?)
ReplyDeleteIf the hairdryer doesn't work, you can use the last minute trick my two used last year- baking it in the oven. Supposedly if you do this early enough, it also removes moisture in the wood (before it's painted) and allows you to put on more weight or something. ::rolling eyes::
Handsome boy, cool car!
ReplyDeleteOh, I think he will be far more surprised over the years, but he just will not be so open with sharing his surprise.
ReplyDeleteAnd to think we didn't get art degrees with all that painting we did in college.