This past Saturday we embarked upon our first adventure of the New Year! Alli was responsible for planning, but because none of us are very good secret-keepers, we all knew what was planned weeks in advance. This adventure would get our creative juices, as well as our bottled and fermented juices, flowing as we embraced our inner artiste at a BYOB painting class, with the theme being "Whimsical Peacocks."
By the time we arrived to GOT Art Gallery in Lee's Summit, we had already finished off two bottles of celebratory champagne (see previous post). Our art instructor, Theresa, promised the more wine we drank, the better artists we would become. Luckily, we brought eight bottles with us, and being the diligent pupils we are, got right to work on our assignment of consuming said wine (there's no doubt we would be stellar at this component of the activity). We each chose a spot along the long line of tables,each spot equipped with easel, canvas and brush, and waited for the rest of our classmates to arrive.
I will mention here that Amy is the only one of us who had previously participated in such a class. She once attended one in Nashville while on vacation. Before arriving to our class, we were all discussing what we thought the process would be like, and specifically how difficult it would be. Amy told us that at the class she took previously, the image was already pencil drawn on the canvas and the participants were instructed on how to paint on the details. I said, "Oh! That's easy!" She said, "No, not really." You can imagine then how she may have felt when we discovered our canvases looked like this....
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| Slightly intimidating |
Once all the class participants had arrived, Theresa gave us our first instruction.... pick a color and paint the entire canvas that color. You'd think this was a simple, easy, thoughtless command. You'd be wrong. This was a HUGE, life-changing decision for some; many of us mixing two or three paints together to create the perfect shade of <insert color>, some changing their color part way through the process, and others struggling with how to paint ALL FOUR edges and keep them in pristine condition while they dried (the final solution was to abandon the easel for this part of the process).
After our canvases were painted, we began the peacock-producing process. We started with the body. Theresa apologized for the phallic nature of the bird's shape, and instantly the word peaCOCK made total sense. *Be sure to check out the size of Jessi's peacock further down in the blog ;)
After the body, we began working on part of the feathers, then the plumes, then we finished off the feathers, and finally the facial details were added. Alli later told me that deciding on the color combination for her feathers was "stressful," and I believe Jessi asked for approval of her proposed colors/sizes/shapes/younameit from Theresa before each and every step. Meghan, on the other hand, was less serious about creating a masterpiece, and joked about how her peacock would be proudly displayed in her garage. *This adventure differentiated the Type As from the Type Bs
Lisa, the projected superstar of this adventure, did not disappoint. Her artistic talent and creative confidence were evident. Amy, the self-proclaimed artistically-challenged, surprised us all, but mostly herself. Her bold choice of colors drew compliments from classmates. Meagan and Seabrin were the first to finish, and created what I venture to say were two of the "best" peacocks in the group. And I'm the one who obsessed over the details (shocker!); repeatedly refining the outline of my peacock's body in an attempt to keep the edges sharp and clean, highlighting, shading and adding unnecessary accents here and there (I admit, I'm the "A-ist" of them all).
In the end, eight distinctly different, yet equally beautiful peacocks were created....
I've got to say, I had my doubts about the success of this adventure, but I was so wrong. Thanks to Theresa's laid-back teaching approach and simple step-by-step instructions, I'm happy to report that it was an overwhelmingly positive, gratifying and Femme-approved activity. Thank you Alli for the great idea and the lasting memories.
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| Meagan |
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| Lisa |
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| Seabrin |
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| Meghan |
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| Jessi |
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| Alli |
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| Amy |
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| Destiny |
Now I'm going to go listen to Katy Perry.... on repeat....
