Paint Night

The other night me and my sisters had a girls outing last week - Paint night! We bought a Groupon deal that lets you paint for two hours at a restaurant. They provide all the supplies and the instruction. Here's the inspiration painting: "Rainy Street."

There were quite a few participants, mostly seated around a big long table. Here I am with my supplies, ready to go - oh, and a mojito for further inspiration!

A blank canvas.

We started with a colour wash. Hard to imagine this is on its way to becoming "art."

Starting to take shape. I should have made my red area bigger but ah well.

Really starting to take shape. I like the little lights from the boats on water.

Added more definition, the pathway, and some lovely trees.

Ta-da, my finished masterpiece!

Here are some candid shots of my sisters:

And here we all are, with our paintings!

It was great fun, we're already looking for another event we can all attend!

Paint inspiration

Now that I've dabbled in painting a bit, I'm finding inspiration everywhere. Like here on Alta Lake:

Or these lovely train tracks up in Whistler:

Or even this lovely sunset that someone posted on to Facebook.

Painting, Take 2

After my first painting class, I decided to try some painting on my own. The kit I bought had two flat canvases in the same size, so I picked a complimentary photo to try and recreate.

Here's my version! The background is darker than what I wanted but I'm still pretty happy with it.

I had the leisure of doing this in my own house at my own pace, so I took the time to tweak the colours and highlighting. I didn't have any guidance, but I think it turned out ok.

Here are my first two attempts, side by side. I was happy I got the purple colour the same from mixing the paints. I think they will be nice side by side and framed.

My sister and husband said that a set of 3 would like nice, but I can't find this size canvas anywhere! Ah well, I'm happy with the set of 2 for now!

Painting Class

This past weekend I took a paining class at Michael's! I have been wanting to do this for weeks now and could never commit to the time. I received a coupon in my email in box that was a great deal, which I combined with my 40% of coupon to buy the materials. And away I went!

It was a 2-hour beginner acrylic class called "Spring flower." Here is my clean palette and reference photo.

The first part was easy, just learning how to mix paints and getting the background on the canvas. The gal beside me had been painting and taking these classes for many years, and she was SO wonderful and helpful. Actually, more helpful than the teacher, who seemed a little distant and overwhelmed because the class was large (9 participants). That was a little disappointing, the quality of teaching, I mean. But thanks of to Emily, the gal beside me, I just forged ahead.

You lay down carbon paper and trace out the general shape. I used a binder clip at the top of the canvas, care of the very helpful Emily.

Then just go for it! I got into it and didn't have time to take pictures. We had to get it done in 2 hours, after all. The other ladies in the class were very friendly and we chatted while we painted.

I really enjoyed the highlighting and adding details of the painting. It's amazing that we all painted the same picture, but each participants' work of art was totally unique.

Here is mine, almost done. The teacher came by and, thankfully, gave me some tips on blending background colours so that they don't overpower the main focal point.

Here is the reference photo, again.

And here is my finished painting, all dried and resting on my sunny windowsill. The hubby was very impressed! I think it turned out better than I expected, but if I had more time I would fiddle more with the stem and background. But all in all, I was very happy with the class. I'll have to do more painting now, since I have a ton of paints from the starter kit that they make you buy, as well as another canvas. I'll try it on my own before signing up for another class, unless I know that Emily will be there - she really was one of the best parts of the class!