Neal steps in close and takes the brush gently, not out of Malcolm’s hand, just guiding him back over to his palette. He wipes a substantial amount of paint back into the little board. “You don’t need nearly that much at once. Less is more.”

Neal shifts behind Malcolm so they’re body-to-body, guiding the clean brush in Malcolm’s hand back to the canvas to collect more of the paint there and swipe a bit onto the palette, before taking what’s left back to the curve of the bowl. “Don’t pull more paint from your board for now,” he murmurs. “See if you can thin out what you have on the canvas already.”