Now that sounds like something I was just going to have to try. You see my art work from my college days looked like someone in kindergarten did them. I had a ceramic class several times a week and it was just after lunch. However lunch was always at a nearby pub where they had a great lunch special of roast beef sandwiches and pitchers of beer. That could have had an effect on my ability to use the potters wheel.
The particular night I was there, was a benefit for the "Love that Dress" for the Collier Pace Center for Girls and 70 dresses were collected that evening. What a great idea...have fun painting,help a local charity. Sounds like the makings of a great evening don't ya think?
Despite my previous experiences in the world of art I was open to giving this a try. I must say Debbie is one awesome art instructor. Where was she when I was in college? The experience begins with Debbie giving a few simple ground rules which really are not rules at all. They relate to the care of the paintbrushes, cups of water etc...however and this I found to be very hard to do...we were not allowed to make fun of our own art work but we could make fun of anybody else's. None of the ladies present did this and were all as encouraging as Debbie was.
The art piece de jour for the evening was called "Crazy Love" and Debbie gave us the history of the healing effect this picture has. It was created for a group of special needs young adults to paint for their Caregivers at xmas. On the way to the studio they were in huge accident that involved drunk driver and totaled their 2 buses and closed I-75 for hours. They all survived. Months later they came and painted the painting for their caregivers and "shared" a painting to give to their friend still in hospital. This friend was finally able to paint it months later with her teeth for the hospital staff. Since that time, it's been the painting that Debbie turns to for special groups and events...She has had kids with cancer paint it on the beach, blind kids paint it, classrooms share the painting and give it to their teachers, neighborhoods paint it for a family moving away. How cool is that?
Oh I did forget to mention one more important thing....one can bring their own adult beverage if they so choose. White wine and painting seem to work well with each other as long as you remember to put your paint brush back into the water cup and not your wine glass. Just one of those silly rules Debbie has.
Oh I did forget to mention one more important thing....one can bring their own adult beverage if they so choose. White wine and painting seem to work well with each other as long as you remember to put your paint brush back into the water cup and not your wine glass. Just one of those silly rules Debbie has.
Debbie lead us through all the steps required to create our masterpieces. I did fine when it came to the background but when it came to painting the heart that is where my artistic ability ended. You want me to do what??? Paint a heart, off center so that it looks like it goes off the edge of the canvas??? Really??? Have ya met me??? Needless to say my heart did not look very much like a heart at all. The next part is where it got really complicated for me anyway. We then had to add all these color streaks and leave the center part open, seems I did not hear that last part. More than likely cause I was laughing so hard at my lack of ability to paint a heart let alone make all those streaks. I figure I will just blame it on the wine as opposed to any lack of artistic ability on my part.
Once we were done Debbie adds puffy paint to add dimension to our masterpiece...well that is what she says it is for but in my case I suspect it was to try and save my art piece and help make it look like something even closely resembling a heart. It did not really help much though.
So now my masterpiece awaits being hung in a place of honor. It is hard to find just the right spot cause every time I look at it I laugh. If you have not been able to figure out which of the 2 paintings are mine... I will give ya a hint...it is the pink one.
Seriously though, if you are looking for a fun evening and want to try your hand at painting, then visit Debbie and Masterpiece Mixers. It is really a great experience whether you can paint or not. You can learn more about what Masterpiece Mixers is all about by visiting http://www.masterpiecemixers.com/
Happy Painting!
