Mr. Paint, CAM’s official mascot, recently attended the ribbon cutting ceremony celebrating the opening of the museum’s spectacular new ground level space —CAM’s additional WOW floor!

Our roving SketchCAM reporter was on site to interview Mr. Paint and asked if we could paint his portrait. We think he said, ’’sure,’’ or, well, words to that effect while speaking through a small vent in his face (also serves as ventilation).

Since kids of all ages can paint Mr. Paint, let’s try a three-step-by-step. We’ll use oil paint techniques that have been around since Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) who was too busy being the Renaissance guy to do a Mr. Paint portrait.

Step One: The Panel Sketch

Artists since ancient Egypt have painted on wooden panels over drawings. So, we start with a panel primed with white gesso and quickly draw Mr. Paint. Using only a No. 2 pencil, we go for simple shapes, lines, and gestures. (Note: We need to spray a layer of workable fixative over the graphite lines or else the wet oil paint will smear into it.)

Step Two: Oil Paint

Mr. Paint has what we call a ’’limited palette’’ which means basic primary colors. When Mr. Paint asked what’s a limited palette, I tried to explain this art terminology (with some difficulty since we were communicating via his face vent).

Mr. Paint: Limited palate!? Not true! I like lots of foods.

SketchCAM: Palette, not palate.

Mr. Paint: Pilates?

SketchCAM: Palette, which means painting colors.

Mr. Paint: Am I getting moved on a pallet?

Voila! When oil paint fully dries, we’ll give Mr. Paint a new coat of varnish (Step Three).

We’d like to thank Mr. Paint for his paint-ience and all the Cincinnati Art Museum folks, friends, and supporters who have made our new ground level spaces possible for everyone to explore and enjoy.

Visit Mr. Paint soon at CAM!