Painting is FUN!
Lately, my buddy Ceico has been learning to paint a picture using something the human likes to call “the paintbrush.”
The paintbrush is this stick-shaped thing with a funny looking feathery part poking out of one end. It kind of looks like a long skinny carrot, although it isn’t orange like a carrot (and trust me, it doesn’t taste like one either!)
Anyway, Ceico has been learning this new trick for a couple of weeks now, but the silly human didn’t let me try it out! I can paint too, just like Ceico can!
Plus, the human knows I like to put my own spin on tricks, and there is just so much I can do with this trick! I started to think maybe there was a reason why she didn’t want to teach me this trick, although I can’t imagine what it may be…
*Above* A couple of Ceico’s finished masterpieces.
Anyway, the human gave in eventually and finally introduced me to the skinny carrot. As I mentioned previously, “the paintbrush” thing tasted nothing like carrots! How disappointing.
However, there was still a lot of stuff I could do with this trick. Of course, the next obvious thing to try was the feathery bristles on the end! I learned quickly that the human definitely didn’t want me to chew on the feathery end.
I, of course, thought she was wrong. Those feathers look edible for sure! But it turned out that the feathers aren’t actually made of hay, and they’re pretty boring and tasteless. So okay, I guess the human was right this time; eating this new toy was out of the question.
So I resorted to picking up the paintbrush. That seemed to work since the human offered food every time I picked it up.
So…. it was time to have a little fun. I tried picking up the paintbrush again and put some extra energy into it, throwing the brush as far as I could. No treat. Huh. Not being one to give up so easily, I kept trying, of course, thinking the human would change her mind (because throwing the paintbrush is kind of fun!)
We ended up kind of meeting in the middle. I learned that I could pick up the brush with my usual enthusiasm, but the feathery part at the end had to touch the white paper that was sitting beside me.
I still threw in an extra toss here and there to see if the human was paying attention, but she seemed pretty adamant that the brush was not supposed to be thrown across the room.
We practiced picking up the paintbrush and throwing it at the paper for a few days (pretty boring, I know!) Until one day the human decided to try something different (finally!)
This time, she seemed slightly hesitant to give me the paintbrush for some reason, but as soon as she did, I made sure to inspect the new changes thoroughly. The feathery part on the end was blue instead of its usual beige color. I got a little closer for a quick sniff, and it definitely smelled different too! Not like food exactly, but it sure was interesting!
Anyway, the human seemed to want me to keep touching the paper like we had been practicing, so I humored her a couple of times. She seemed surprisingly happy (and sort of relieved?) that I was doing the same thing we had practiced.
Then she dipped the feathers into something, and the interesting smell became even stronger! As soon as she set the brush down on the floor, I knew I only had one chance.
Snatching the brush, I turned and ran as fast as I could, looking for a place where I could inspect this new smell in privacy. The paintbrush was a lot bigger than I expected, though. It didn’t quite fit through all the spaces I could, so I might have dropped it and hit it against a few more things than I intended to. After a few tries, I finally managed to get it under the table into my secret den.
The human’s eyes grew wide as she exclaimed, “No, Acey!” Seeing as the damage was already done, she surveyed the room, not looking surprised but not too thrilled, either. Then, sighing, she retrieved my brush from under the table and ruffled my fur, saying something about “needing to cover the whole room in paper for me.”
Not going to lie; that sounds like even more fun!
Thanks for reading my latest adventure!
~Ace
P.S. Stay tuned for an update when I finally finish my painting to see how the rest of my painting experience turns out. 🙂