Painting with Tom

I always write about how Tom and I have been painting and making new creations. But when I'm not getting handprints or foot prints how do I ensure Tom can have the freedom and independence that painting can give you?

I think it is really important that Tom is able to create his own work, work that I have had no input in whatsoever and I have developed a way to do this with Tom.

I let Tom pick the colour of the paints he would like to use. This at the moment is a little bit of trial and error because it is based on my interoperation of Tom's expression, however when Tom moves forward with his eye gaze I am hopeful that he will be able to tell me for sure what colours he wants. At the moment I show him two different colours, I make sure they are very different to give Tom a choice of two opposites. I then show him a paint one at a time and wait for a reaction. Depending on the reaction I take the paint that I believe Tom responded the most positively to.

Once Tom has chosen his selection of colours, I blob small dots onto paper that is under his hands or feet. Today we used his feet and this is sometimes easier for Tom to control. I then let Tom go wild for as long as he needs. Sometimes Tom gets it right away and he explores the paints making marks very quickly, other times Tom takes his time and either way I go with it.

Sometimes I will have to help Tom if he is taking a little longer than usual as the paint dries on his feet get stuck to the paper so the only input I will have is to unstick his feet.

Tom seems to really enjoy this way of painting and I love watching him explore the materials independently. I always talk on the blog about how I feel it is so important for Tom to have his own time and for me to ensure that I am not too hands on all of the time, I can imagine this would get pretty irritating.

Tom is very happy, he was determined not to give me a smile!

Tom is developing more movement in both his legs and his arms so painting is getting very messy and a lot of fun! Given how far tom has already come, the only way is up! Tom could be the modern day Van Gough...