Hello, Alicia here, engineer by weekday and adventurer by weekend (and most weeknights). I live in
Seattle and work as a Project Engineer at Oberto Sausage Company. I’m the girl that is only happy at
work when things are busy and stressful and only happy outside of work when I’m doing something
active. I always have my eyes open for what fun adventures I can share with family and friends. I started
blogging so I could share my ideas and escapades with my readers and hopefully motivate them to step
over to the wild side and get out and do something exciting. Check me out at Quirktastic Adventures for new ideas for how to have
fun whenever you have free time.
I am thrilled to be guest posting for the lovely Amy, as I believe we share some of the same passions
around wellness, traveling and living life. Today, I am going to share with you my journey of stepping
out of my comfort zone of science and logic into the world of creativity and art. It all started with a
Groupon… (I’m a Groupon/Living Social addict, so sadly many of my stories start out this way). There
was a Groupon from Corks and Canvas for a
painting class and a your first glass of wine, located at a winery. The idea got my heart racing
a little bit, both because I wanted to do it and because I was scared to death. The scared to
death heart beats won and I didn’t buy it. Over the next couple of weeks I kept checking the
site calendar and looking at all of the paintings that would be fun to create. Finally, there was
a picture of the Seattle skyline that caught my eye. I ended up posting it on Facebook to see
if anyone would go with me to ease my anxiety. Sure enough another one of my science geek
friends, Bridget (she’s a pharmacist), was up for the challenge and adventure.
The day finally arrived and I was extremely nervous. Let me tell you, the founder of this company
had it right, wine is the perfect pairing to painting. You have a glass of wine and you calm right
down. Not to mention before every class they say, “If you don’t like your drawing now, just have
a couple more glasses of wine and you’ll love it.” There is an artist as an instructor that takes you
through the process step by step, stroke by stroke. As you’re going along it seems like you are
painting nothing but then as you progress through the steps it starts coming together. Then all
of sudden the artist tells you to sign your painting you’re done and it’s shocking to look at your painting
and come to the realization that “I just painted a picture and it looks like the Seattle skyline!”
We
continued to go to the class to both hone our skills and of course to have a blast and drink delicious
wine. Each time we went our confidence grew to the point where we knew what the next step
was and we didn’t have to wait on the artist to show us exactly how to stroke our brush. We
could even add our own little creative touches. It truly is incredible to go to these classes and see
how different all of the paintings look when we were all being led by the same instructor and started
with the same paint colors. Here are some of my other paintings from Corks and Canvas events.
I do think the $40 is worth it for the class, but Bridget and I definitely were ready to start dabbling in
painting on our own at home with the goal of eventually throwing our own painting parties. My
boyfriend, Tyler, surprised me with supplies one day after work. Here is what you need to get
started at home:
- Acrylic paints with a variety of colors (should include white and black for mixing)
- Variety of paint brushes (should include large flat, large round, and a small tip for details)
- Table top easel
- Work surface (cover with a drop cloth, plastic table cloth or newspaper)
- Glass of water
- Paper towel
- Glass of wine (or whole bottle)
- Creative spirit
The other night I did my first painting on my own. I'm not going to lie, it was a bit challenging
without the guidance of an artist. Not to discourage though, it just takes time to understand
layering, color mixing and other techniques. Practice, practice, practice! I am in love with
my final product and my aunt wants to buy it from me. Another one of my friends wanted to buy
one of my paintings as well. I still can’t tell if they really love them or if they’re just being nice…
Regardless, I get to say I sold two paintings, even though it was only for a penny.
Farewell friends of Amy!!
Thanks so much for the opportunity to guest post, you're an angel.
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