March 15, 2011

Most.Fun.EVER.

It all started last year while I was in bed watching an episode of The Little Couple as Tyler, much to his chagrin, watched along with me. Bill and Jen {I speak of them as if they are old friends...} went on a date where they drank wine and painted a picture as a group. Even though they did not have an artistic background, their paintings turned out pretty great, and it looked like so much fun! I told Tyler that I definitely wanted to do something like that if I ever had the chance, and he laughed at me and my crazy ideas!

Fast forward several months. I was sitting unassumingly at my desk, taking in my daily email when I saw that Groupon was offering discount vouchers to Paint the Towne, of which I had no idea even existed here in Wichita! Score! I immediately snatched a few up and begged my friends to join in on my purchase...

Anyway, I decided to take Sassy to test the waters. She ♥'s anything art related, and when I spoke the the woman who owns the shop, she thought Sassy would be able to handle the Sunday family class from the sounds of things, even though she's not quite 5 or Kindergarten age. So, Sunday came, and off we went. We were slated to paint this masterpiece.

Sassy and I didn't really know what to expect. When we arrived, there were tables set up with canvases and brushes and various supplies set up at each station. Sassy and I chose a table-side near the center and sat next to each other, waiting for other classmates to arrive. We began by doing a line drawing.



We traced the vase and then placed circles wherever we wanted our flowers to be. I helped Sassy a tiny bit with the tracing, and that's really the only help she required the entire time!



Next, we painted our blue background and the sides of our canvas.



When it came time to make our flowers, I asked the instructor if I could be a little different. I had high hopes that these paintings would end up hanging side by side in our home somewhere, and I thought it would be neat to make them unique...



We began shading our flowers. I found this to be especially fun, getting them to look just the way I liked them to. Mixing colors a bit. Sassy did so well!



They were really starting to shape up!



We began to outline our flowers and draw their centers. I also outlined my vase somewhere around this time, since I chose to make it grey. {LOVE grey & orange together.}



Lookin' good, if I do say so myself!



Who am I kidding? I was absolutely giddy over the way my painting was turning out! I have zero artistic talent when it comes to drawing and painting. Creativity, photography, scrapbooking- that I can do. This kind of thing... not so much.




It came time to do our dots on our vase, and Sassy ran into a bit of trouble. She was unable to make the large polka dots like the instructor showed us, and it was really the only time I saw her become frustrated and discouraged. I gave her the option of accepting some help or making them however she wanted to, and she chose the latter. Her dots did look different than the others, but they looked wonderful to me!



Of course no masterpiece is complete without an artists' signature...



I lovely love my painting! ♥



Sassy & her finished product...



I think Sassy did phenomenally, considering she was the smallest kid there! Aren't they all so great?



I really, really enjoyed this as a special mommy-daughter date, and we plan to return many times. Sassy is already planning her 6-year-old birthday party there. Oh, and side note... how random is this? Sassy and I both happened to draw in nine flowers, and nine is my favorite number!



I also bought a Groupon for Tyler and I to use one evening, and I have two groups of girlfriends that are planning evenings out there. YEAH! I can't wait to go back, and I might need to clear a few more walls in the house!

Sassy, I am SO proud of the awesome job you did! You are a special, talented little girl! ♥

5 sweet tweets:

Anonymous said...

What a fun Mommy/Daughter date! You both did awesome :) I love the little boy's painting in the group pic, too...hysterical.

stephanie said...

this is the funnest thing ever! i am amazed at how good both of your paintings came out! so lovely!!! you're daughter has a special talent i think ; ) PS i love the little boys painting on the left in the group pic! such a boy!

Unknown said...

Those are so sweet! I too am in love with the little boys painting :) Sassy did phenomenal!

Heather said...

I KNOW! Isn't the little boy's painting just the cutest thing? He very much enjoyed himself during the class- you could tell! :)

Mrs. D said...

Those paintings are beautiful! Sassy did an great job. I am very impressed!!