I recently tried a creative experiment with my cat…painting.
I tend toward the abstract art world anyway, and I thought, why not see what Benchley can do… After all we’ve all heard about the elephants in Thailand who can paint (and the paintings sell for thousands of dollars).
The only problem was that Benchley has very furry feet (like a hobbit) – I call them his toe tufts. And they are white…
I came up with a way for him to keep those pink toe beans and snow-white toe tufts clean… He would paint with his tongue.
Food for thought: If kissing with tongue is French kissing, does that make this French painting?
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Painting with Benchums
Materials:
A small canvas or piece of paper/cardstock or cardboard
Paint (I prefer acrylics, but tempera paint would work too)
A closable/zipper plastic bag (big enough to hold said paper/canvas, etc.)
Treat(s) (Benchley prefers Churu treats)
Method:
Squirt some blobs (for lack of a better word) of paint onto the canvas/paper and slide it into the bag.
Seal the bag – try to remove excess air to minimize the air pocket.
Apply the treats to the top on the bag on the paint. If you’re using a liquid treat you can make a design or simply just squeeze it out onto the bag; if using solid treats just put a few on the bag.
Sit back and let your little artist enjoy their treat and create their masterpiece.
One all the treats have been consumed, carefully remove the canvas/paper from the bag and set it somewhere out of their reach to dry. At this point, either throw the paint filled bag away or wash it out for another use.
Once the paint is dry in the canvas, proudly display it.
Notes:
– This could be an easy “less mess” art project with small kids. You could either have them draw on the plastic bag with their finger, or they could drive their favorite trucks or Matchbox Cars across the bag to make tracks. The possibilities are endless!
– This idea could be used to illustrate mixing colors to children.
Suggested Materials:
Canvas – This six pack of 4X4” canvases is perfect for cat (and small dog) sized works of art. You might want to size up to something like these 5X8” ones if you try this with a big dog.
Paint – You can pick the colors for your pallet individually at any local craft store, or you could stock up with this set of 18 colors.
Bag – Depending on the size of your canvas/paper you will want either a sandwich, quart, or gallon size bag.
Easel – If you want to make these a gift, or display it on a flat surface, these unfinished mini easels are a great choice. You could paint the easels any color of your choice, or leave them natural.
If you do this with your pet or child and post a picture of the resulting masterpiece on Instagram, be sure to tag me so I can see it.
Happy painting!
Ooh! Now I wanna try this with little bit… So fun!