It’s hard to imagine that a simple outline a wall could be so interesting, but Banksy proved a long time ago that this can definitely be the case.  In addition, Blek le Rat proved that some stenciled rats can say more than they appear to at first glance.  All of these artists are showing that it’s not necessarily the visual complexity of things that interest people.  It can be as simple as painting the outline of a rat or manipulating a traditional painting to show a message.

You can see this interest in the fact that these artists have actually moved on from painting walls, to producing full shows around the world.  At first this might seem like a contradiction, but these free shows are able to show a different side to the artists than the canvas of the city could provide.  In addition, creating things like a creepy little pet shop in New York City shows that the artists are limited to using stencils to create their art.  It definitely doesn’t appeal to everyone, like any type of art or pop art, but it’s clearly an interesting new addition to the art world that is being enjoyed by many people and it should be interesting to see where it progresses in the near future.

Years ago, when I was in the Scouting organisation, we played a scavenger hunt game that was different to the usual games.  Most of the time you play a scavenger game by doing something like trying to find one thing starting with each letter of the alphabet.  So an apple, a banana and so on.

In Scouts, we played by saying that everything we found had to fit in a matchbox.  Seriously.  It was great fun.  Now admittedly it was only the meanest of group leaders that said not only did we have to find things small enough to fit in a matchbox, but that there had to be one for each letter of the alphabet.  Personally, I think that that is far too hard!

So instead, we played ‘how many things can you fit into the matchbox and still close the lid.’

Like I said in the introduction, even though I have been collecting ideas for sometime I couldn’t believe that I had forgotten this idea.  What brought it to mind was sitting on the floor a few minutes ago with my 4 year old filling up plastic Easter eggs ready for the Sunday morning service.  We are putting different small representations of the Easter story into the plastic craft eggs, and then putting a small chocolate egg in as well.  And my son was trying to fit as much as he could into the eggs!

So, with all the thoughts about having an Easter egg hunt, how about turning it around.  Instead of hunting for eggs themselves, how about hunting for things to put into the Easter egg, just like the old matchbox game that we used to play.

• You can score in various ways:
• How many items starting with a different letter of the alphabet there are
• How many items there are, full stop!
• How heavy the total weight of the eggs is (you will need a set of digital scales that are really accurate so that you can make decisions on players who are really close!)

Whatever you decide to do this Easter, be blessed!

Whilst there are several professional painters who offer a standard and general all round painting service, there are some who specialise in certain techniques.  Faux painting, for example, can be a complex technique to carry out correctly and a professional who is competent in this technique will know what paint will work best for the process, as well as how long it will take and whether it is suitable for the area which the customer wants it on.

Unlike DIY decorators, who often carry out the painting work quickly as they only have a small amount of time available, professional painters can take a longer time to ensure that the painting they carry out is of an extremely high standard.  Furthermore, they also possess all of the required tools and equipment – generally of the highest quality – to be able to carry out their painting jobs as best as possible.

With painting, it is generally noted that experience and age prevails above all else, which is why most older painters appear to never get any paint on themselves or the surrounding area and know all of the tricks of the trade.  For example, the majority of experienced painters know that it pays to brush any ceilings before painting them and that the higher quality primer that is used before the wall paint, the better the overall painting results will be.

Due to their experience and the knowledge that they have gained, painters often carry out their painting techniques in a small amount of time by utilizing many different time saving exercises.  For instance, they will plan their work thoroughly to ensure that they are not constantly climbing up and down a ladder and they will know when to use a primer, how long it will take to dry and the results which will be apparent if it is painted over too soon.

Becoming a quality professional painter can take a lot of time, due to the sheer amount of knowledge and skills that need to be fully understood.  There are different techniques for indoor and outdoor painting, for example, and almost all types of painting work will be different, meaning that a broad knowledge of painting techniques needs to be apparent.