On Tuesday, my friend Katrina and I did something wild and crazy. We went out on a school night to participate in Paint Nite. This was my third Paint Nite experience. My others produced these two works of art...
Paint Nite #1
Paint Nite #2
Since I am not artistic at all and the last time I picked up a paint brush was middle school, I was pleasantly surprised with how my paintings turned out. Even though Tuesday's painting looked more advanced than my other two, I was confident it would turn out okay.
It wasn't that I was confident in my ability, but more the Paint Nite instructor's ability to guide us through the steps to create something beautiful.
Our instructor was Emily Bixler. I attended one of her events before, so I knew she would be upbeat, positive, and fun. She did not disappoint! Emily encouraged us each step of the way and made us feel confident that we could produce something lovely.
There were a lot of people at the event! When you arrive, everything is set up for you already- canvas, water, brushes, paint, and apron.
The only thing you have to do is order drinks! I got a wine, of course. Wine makes me less anxious when I am looking at a blank piece of canvas. It makes me think I might not ruin it.
I took a lot more pictures than I normally do at a Paint Nite because I wanted to show you the steps that took me from a blank canvas to the final product!
I did not like my tree...
... but then we put snow on it and I liked it!
I love the colorful dots on my tree but hate the ribbon on my present. I tried to make thin red lines, but they were crooked, so I had to make them thicker. Then those lines were crooked, so I had to make them even thicker. This was the best I could do!
Next was the tricky part... putting in Santa and his reindeer. Emily advised us to practice on our tablecloth first, so that's what I did. On the left is my first try, on the right is my second try.
I was a little nervous to put it on my canvas!
Eh.
It looks way better from far away!
I made sure to put nine reindeer. You can't tell, but I put the TINIEST red dot on the nose of the one in the lead.
And now for our final products!
I love my tree the most. If I could do it again, I'd fix my present and make the yellow part of my sky more like Katrina's.
I love Katrina's yellow sky, her sun (hard to see on this picture) and the snow on her tree.
Katrina says we're good at "Far Away Art"... AKA... FAART!
No but seriously, we were pretty proud of our paintings. They do look better from a bit of a distance!
All in all, it was a great night!
Thank you to our instructor, Emily, who helped us create "Santa's Last Stop"!
Have you ever done a Paint Nite?
Do you consider yourself artistic? In what way?
Do you consider yourself artistic? In what way?
I love both your paintings! This is really great. I really enjoy doing art work and have done so my whole life. I consider myself a creative person but I am not a very talented artist. For me, it's all about the process of just getting lost in what I am doing for a few hours. I love it. You did a really wonderful job, Megan!
ReplyDeleteI would love to see your paintings sometime!
DeleteYour paintings came out great! Ive never done a paint night and I would be so nervous- but maybe wine would help!
ReplyDeleteI think we both know wine will help!
DeleteOnce again, so interesting that you have this as a topic today (like the socks yesterday!) because I bought my Mom a Paint Nite for an xmas present this year! It will be a night for both of us. I couldn't think of what she needed for xmas, but I thought it would be fun to spend time with her and make something. I've never done it before. I don't think I have a lot of artistic skills, but it looked like fun! Your paintings turned out great. I am inspired!!
ReplyDeletePaint Night is an awesome gift for your momma! You two gals will have a lot of fun! First I'm googling your hometown then I'm posting about socks you got... and now Paint Nite!
DeleteI love these classes and used to do them more often. I always see Groupons and deals for them and probably need to go back more than I do. Your painting turned out GREAT!
ReplyDeleteThanks! Yes I used a coupon code that are always swirling around. There's no reason to pay more than $25 for a paint night. Around here, anyway!
DeleteOh so fancy! and it came out great!
ReplyDeleteI have no drawing or painting talent, but ask me to make you an excel spreadsheet with graphs, and that's where my talent comes in! I can also bake cookies and cakes from scratch... I count that as my artistic talent!
I count my culinary endeavors as artistic too!
DeleteI am impressed you can make graphs in excel! Excel confuses me so much. I hated when I had to use it in grad school. Baking definitely counts as art. I make just a few things from scratch. I'm more of a box girl...
DeleteKaren I WANT TO GO TO A PAINT NIGHT WITH YOU! I BET WE WOULD HAVE SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteYou can drink as much as you want but you have to pay for it! Luckily, we arrived when it was still happy hour and my generously poured wine was only $3.50! I wanted to get another but I was driving home so one it was!