When Alex McKay paints, there is imagination, control and expression evident on the paper.

He often chooses blues, greens and purples. So it's probably no coincidence that his award-winning painting, "V.W. Beetle," embraces such a palette.

Alex, of Washington, is 12 and has been taking classes at Monart in Washington for almost three years. Born with cerebral palsy, he learned to grasp a marker or paint brush using various devices that compensate for weakness in his left hand.

"When he was in kindergarten, first and second grade, I would take him out of school one day a week for outpatient therapy, drive him to Wexford," said his mother, Marcia McKay.

"As the academics became more difficult, more demanding, we looked for other outlets to replace the outpatient therapy," she said.

As he sat in his motorized wheelchair at a big table in Karen Price's art class earlier this week, he carefully applied grass-green acrylic to the white background.

On the page was a picture of a frog he'd drawn with a little direction from Mrs. Price.

"Part of what we do is give him independence, and that means not doing it for him," said Mrs. Price, who owns the brightly colored studio on Oak Spring Road.

Some art therapists use a technique called "hand over hand," in which the instructor literally helps guide the hand of the student.

"But most of the time [with that method], it's really, really hard not to do it for him," Mrs. Price said.

Instead, Miss McKay came across two better methods while going through catalogs.

The first employs a Handi/Writer. The bright yellow elastic band slips over Alex's wrist, resembling a bracelet. Attached to the loop is a much-smaller loop.

A pen or paint brush is held by the smaller loop, making it easier for the artist to grasp it.

Another helpful device is the AbiliGrip. It's a purple-and-gold tube of spongy soft material that goes over the pen or brush, giving Alex much more control as he grips it. The AbiliGrip also is useful for holding dinner utensils, he mother said.

Alex operates his wheelchair through a joystick control on the left hand rest. As he prepared to work on the frog painting, his mother and Mrs. Price removed the armrests so the chair could fit comfortably under the table.

"We're going to start with the eye," Mrs. Price said, gently urging him by describing the strokes.

"Alex, I want you to draw a circle," she continued. A year or so earlier, this was a fine motor skill movement that was beyond Alex; but he has made great progress.

"You put your pen here, and we're going to come down over the other side," said the teacher.

Back in the spring, Alex learned his drawing of a car had been chosen to represent the state of Pennsylvania in a national contest. More than 4,500 entries were submitted to VSA Arts, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

Fifty-one pieces were selected to represent each state plus the District of Columbia. They can be viewed online at the center's Web site, www.vsarts.org, but a more exciting reward was having Alex's painting become part of a traveling exhibition.

The exhibition, "Celebrating Who I Am," was displayed for the month of June at Union Station in Washington, D.C. It will reopen in Gulfport, Miss., Sept. 1-Oct. 30, then in Winchester, Va. Jan. 4-April 2 of next year.

Other cities are expected to be added.

Alex's condition makes clear speech difficult. At home and in school, he has a Mercury, a touchscreen computer device that can "talk" for him as he types the words.

"His speech has improved over the past several years, but he can't really write [easily]," Miss McKay said.

Alex will be in the sixth grade at Trinity Middle School this fall but has a busy summer still ahead. In addition to swimming, which he enjoys, he is a member of the Washington Little Wild Things special needs baseball team.

"Socially, he has come out of his shell," said his mother. "He enjoys being one of the group."

And like most kids, he likes to emulate his big brother. Jordan McKay is 15. Noting a SpongeBob SquarePants hat looped over the back of the wheelchair, Miss McKay laughed and said, "He likes SpongeBob, but he's not a big fan.

"We were in the store and he saw his brother getting a hat, so he had to have one, too."