On Monday, Brian and I ventured into a world of art I had never attempted before. Painting! We participated in a Wine & Design event entitled “Boat”. I was excited all day thinking about getting to try my hand at painting. Brian is definitely the more artistic of the two, as evidenced by his purse-making skills; I reminded myself of that all day so I wouldn’t try to compare myself to him :). We arrived and got our aprons on and paint brushes ready. The above palette is what we used to create our masterpieces. Below is the progression of the night. First Brian, then me.
1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 
6. 
1. Brian’s excited! 2. Got the apron, he’s ready to go. 3. Checking out the other folks arriving and getting tired of me taking pictures. 4. Water complete. 5. Outline of the boat. Check. 6. Working on some details.
1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
1. Debbie’s not sure if she’s even holding the brush right. 2. Water done. 3. Outline done. Is it dimensionally sound? Who cares! 4. Not liking all the purple and different shades you have to use.
Final Products:
Brian:
His turned out so well! Seriously, if you could see the original that we were using as our guide and his, they are incredibly similar in overall appearance (his colors are different of course, but the details are great). He added even more details after this picture was taken and it looks great. I think he really enjoyed the evening and may even be willing to go back again.*
Debbie: 
I gave up after 2 1/2 hours of painting. All the shading and details became too overwhelming for me so I ended up quitting. Unfortunately, an evening I was really looking forward to turned out to be embarrassingly frustrating for me. I’ve come to the conclusion that a) this painting may have been a bit advanced for me, b) I needed a lot more time to finish hashing out the details, c) I’m pretty terrible at spacial relations and creating depth (you should really see my cactus picture from 5th grade!), d) if I could work on my painting a little more I might actually be satisfied with it.
When we fist got there, the instructor advised us to sit opposite each other so we couldn’t see one another's work. I laughed at that and made the comment that I would prefer to sit next to Brian so I could see what he was doing and modify my work based on his insight. Well, the instructor sure knew what she was talking about. I ended up finding myself comparing my painting to his and pouting that his was coming together so nicely while mine continued (in my opinion) to grow worse and worse.
Overall, I’m glad I braved the realm outside of my comfort zone. In hindsight, I wish I hadn’t gotten upset at myself for not being as good at something as I wanted to be. I was embarrassed that my disappointment was so easily recognized by several people (including the instructor and a girl that works there). If you know me at all, you know that I do not easily mask anything on my face. *The girl felt so bad for me she took Brian to a back room and gave him gift certificates for us to attend another class for free. So, looks like I may get to try my hand at this crazy thing called art one more time. I just hope it’s a painting that’s a little less involved!
