First Father’s Day

This weekend was B’s first Father’s Day!  He has been such a wonderful partner and is so wonderful with little S  She is the world to him and I know that the feeling is mutual.  While I went out to run some errands, B stayed home with little S.  When I came home, I found them napping together.  So sweet I had to snap a picture!

On Sunday, little S revealed her first art project:  a poster with picture of her with her daddy and her footprints at 10 weeks old.  I think daddy liked it.  It’s hanging on the best wall real estate in our house-above the kitchen fireplace mantle:)

What did daddy want to do on Father’s Day?  Shop?!  So we went shopping!  S did very well being out all afternoon.  She even let us dress her up for a family photo when we got home.

Another Try At Painting

Before Thanksgiving, my sister and I attended a class held in a restaurant space in the suburban community of Carmel Valley (I am so glad that I don’t have to commute from there. It took me and hour to drive there from the hospital)

We had a cozy booth set up with easels, paints and an apron. My sister sipped sauv blanc and we shared truffled fries and flatbreads.

I thought the painting we selected was ambitious: a night sky and featuring an animal. But, I surprise myself once again! Everyone’s paintings looked great. So interesting to see the different intensities of color, brush strokes and blending technique (or rather lack thereof). The biggest tip the instructor provided us: don’t worry about the details. Take a step back and take a look. Paintings are supposed to be admired from a distance!

My sister’s and my painting were relatively similar, especially compared to others in the class. I guess it’s we’re more similar than we thought!

Starry night in SD

Light pollution is a problem in big cities. It has been quite a long time since I’ve seen a starry sky. But last week, my friend M held her bachelorette party which brought the stars back…at least on a canvas!

When I found out that we were going to celebrate M’s upcoming nuptials with a painting class, I cringed…a lot. I envisioned myself sitting in front of a canvas covered mixing all the paint colors into a mess of greys and browns, a result of my desperate attempt to create art. I don’t have a creative bone in me, and I’ve been notorious for having little patience for art projects. I wasn’t expecting much fun to come out of this night for me aside from the wonderful company and the wine that accompanied the class.

Was I so wrong! I actually found the class to be therapeutic and relaxing. I loved creating the colors and layering the paint over the canvas. Was I very creative? No, not at all. I just followed the teacher’s instructions-it must be from the YEARS of education I’ve had. But in the end, I had a wonderful time, and I was pleasantly surprised at my artwork.

M has selected van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’ to the be the night’s inspiration. The instructor, Amy, was a cute girl who had recently moved from England to be closer to her fiance-an American soldier now deployed in Afghanistan. She walked us through the painting, creating her own version alongside us.

I have to say that I am very proud at my work.  I’m shocked that I was able to create this in under 3 hours.  I would have liked to have had more time to touch up, but I am still happy with the result.

So how did I do?