Painting for Dummies

Art is not my forte. During my school years I always did well with straight up perspective drawings because they are all straight lines done with a ruler, but as soon as I was asked to add a tree or a bush to my straight road with a picket fence or add people to my square city blocks, I was done for. I can do a pretty convincing stick figure, but other than that, my artistic endeavors are laughable. I can paint crafts, but when it comes to straight up drawing or painting likenesses of anything, I’m pretty abysmal. It’s bad enough that when I was teaching school, my fourth graders used to make fun of me:

Me: {trying to draw something convincing on the chalkboard}

Students: Teacher, what is that?

Me: A dog.

Students: No, it’s not! It’s a marshmallow on a stick!

Me: {not even a little bit offended} Yeah, well, I do my best. {chuckle}

With that bit of background information, you will understand that I was pretty reluctant to participate when my relief society had a painting night. They assured us that anyone could do it, but still, when 9-year-olds laugh at your skills, you really have to face the fact that you are not an artist. However, I was saved from humiliation by the big old headache I had that evening. I would have preferred to be joking about my lack of artistic prowess with the ladies in the ward, but it was not to be. However, there were supplies left over after the activity and when offered to any who had not been able to attend, I actually decided to take advantage of that offer. Because I could give it a try and if it turned out horrible, at least I would have something to keep me entertained for a while, right?

But guess what? Turns out even I can paint by number. 😂 I created my masterpiece during conference this past weekend and I’m actually pretty pleased with the result. And now that it is done, you can’t even see the little numbers that led to my success. 😜

Amphibious Art

Earlier this week, Malia came home from a friend’s house having created a work of art featuring a frog. However, she was dissatisfied with the end result. She outlined her subject and decided (much too late of course) that she didn’t like the way it looked. So, she has spent the rest of the week creating froggy art that is more to her liking. Malia is not all that much like me personality wise, but in terms of having something turn out not quite as well as expected and needing to do it again RIGHT NOW, apparently, she is quite a bit like me!

Painting Paves a Path…Hopefully

Malia is still not sure about the new ward. And I can’t say that I blame her. Not only is it still really new, but it is far larger than our previous ward. And obviously, our previous ward was quite small and the only ward she has ever known. So, she is nervous and uncertain and ill at ease. I went with her to her midweek young women last week and it turned out ok, but I don’t think she would have even gone without me. She did find one girl that she met at girls’ camp this summer, one that she clicked with very quickly, and that helped a ton. So, she was more willing to go to the activity this week. Especially since the activity this week was painting pumpkins, and the word “paint” is like the call of the wild for Malia. 

She chose a simple, yet effective, design for her pumpkin and I think it turned out great. And she came home wearing a smile, which is fantastic! So hopefully she is on her way to finding her place in this ward.

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch…

Malia and Kate painted for like two hours. Malia was mightily pleased with the results of her efforts.

A Painting Party

For the past several years, Malia has hosted a sleepover with Kate right around the time of her birthday. This year, the slumber party was scheduled a few weeks early because we discovered a neat event that Malia was super excited to attend. There is a nearby art studio that is the primary retail location for a variety of local artists, many of whom paint religious paintings. Every other month or so, the studio hosts a “paint with the artist” event where you can not only meet the artists and see them work, but you can try your hand at recreating one of their paintings. When asked if she was interested, Malia responded enthusiastically in the affirmative. These things are always more fun with a friend, so the sleepover was scheduled to coincide with the event.

The girls got to meet Dan Wilson, tried out some of his techniques, and came away with a recreation of his painting of Abraham Lincoln. Her heavy use of cool colors made Malia’s version look a bit like zombie Lincoln, but they had fun. Malia said she would definitely go again. 😃

After their artistic endeavors, the girls stayed up almost all night. Malia said it was somewhere around 4 a.m. when they finally went to sleep. They were awakened at a normal hour as they were sleeping in the family room and our household got up and moving at regular time this morning, but they were both pretty darn tired. Rachael told us that Kate had a great time and went to bed at 7 p.m. this evening. 😂

I’m so glad these cousins are such good friends. Sometimes teens get so busy with school, extracurriculars and friends that they don’t have much time for family, but I hope these get togethers continue as they get older. Because Malia has no sisters, she has to get in her girl time with cousins.