vernon god little, and art

sounds morbidly fascinating and slated to be my next read.
touted to be "fit to rank with Catcher in the Rye", being "the outstanding literary debut of 2003". i know 2003 was eons ago. i even thought of getting Y this as a birthday gift back in 2003 until the entire gang decided to give him a stupid game set bought from some god forsaken country which made it clear that he wasn't that good a friend to us. bad us.

i also borrowed tangerine by colin cheong, about this guy travelling around in Vietnam. perhaps it will be hanoi next then.

art class today. with the primary one kids. alot of things went wrong. leaf printing. the plan was 1. colour the drawing block first with a light colour. 2. crumple paper up and dip in paint, blot and then stamp on the drawing paper to create a messy stamped effect 3. everyone to take a leaf and paint it and have leaf prints! lovely! planned.

reality rules: 1. only 2 pupils out of 30 7 year olds brought paint. 2. i had only one tiny cup where they could dip paper and leaves. 3. the leaves were bloody waxy and paint was splattered in droplets on the leaf. 4. which adds up to the fact that 30 kids came running to the teachers' table with their blocks, excited and shouting "i want the leaf!" 5. i had no paintbrush.

end result: everyone colours first. anyhow mix blue paint haphazardly. (side note: the blue paint are remains from own primary school days ten years ago. not dried up yet. god is good. borrow paintbrush from one pupil. the pupil that i made cry a week ago. vow to be nicer to him. crumple a4 paper, dip, pass to pupil. let those who really make alot of noise do the leaf print. leaf print turns out awful! but they can't tell. i don't say anything either.

at the end of the period: teacher's table is in a blue mess. scramble and yells, "my paint shop is closed!". children echo the same words. pack up, dammit. only 5-10 mins left! "hand up your work! make sure it's dry! blot with paper if not dry!".
clear up blue mess faster than expected. damage is minimal. my waterbottle turns blue. paint has seeped through my nails and hardens in the crevice between my nail and my skin. i look like i have hypothermia.

the end: clearing up is surprisingly fast. have some minutes to spare. sits on chair in front of classroom. big smile and relief. "shall we have a look at one another's work?" holds up 30 pairs of artwork one at a time and watch individual pupils beam and raise their hands proudly as their work is held up.
the final question: did you enjoy the art lesson today? the resounding yes makes me think that thinking on your feet is important? no, perhaps not. making the best out of a crap situation perhaps. maybe.

and their work was nice! like abstract art!

so, potato printing next time. please bring paint and potatos.