colored pencil earrings

i think i will *mostly* let the photos speak for themselves, but i will definitely list our delicious menu!  (and yes, it included pez...)

 

 menu :

bellini's + wine

prosciutto-wrapped greens w/ a dressing

lamb coconut curry over rice

spicy daal w/ naan

roasted vegetables

handmade fried fishcakes

*various sauces + chutneys were passed*

carrot cake

(the ramekin contained a little dairy-free version that robin made for me and benj - so sweet of her and delicious, oh my gosh delicious!)

cola, raspberry-lemon, + strawberry PEZ

(because why not? and gabrielle visited the Pez Factory in Orange, CT, haha!)

. . . c o l o r e d   p e n c i l   e a r r i n g s . . .

 matboard lovingly cut and punched in pairs

 gina's creation begins

 gabrielle's whole process is a work of art

 robin's faces were showstoppers

 my photo does not do justice of jessica's ombre work

(see finished photos at bottom)

 joan's landscape on one side / faces on the other...i love seeing the inspiration next to the work

 denise's beautiful pair were inspired by venetian glass
. . .

and here they are!!!

 i am newly addicted

 (see what i mean about robin's faces?!)

 

another wildly successful wine art wednesday

a big thank you to rita for teaching the workshop and preparing all of the materials - it was a blast - and i'm terribly sorry about speaking over you that time, haha, what was going on?! and also to donna for hosting, all of the chefs and you girls for being you girls...i love you!

and in the conversation that i *can* repeat :

- check out quarterly.co because jessi is subscribed to cool hunting (and their website here) and just received an awesome bag in their latest shipment. donna has just subscribed to "food + home" and we are all excitedly waiting for their first shipment.

- the arts council of greater new haven is accepting submissions for their "to the t" exhibit

- and i know i missed a bunch of great conversation when i brought benj home for grandpa to babysit him, but maybe you girls can remind me in the comments.

i especially loved all of the new ideas flying around for what to do next.  we will never be at a loss for what to do and that makes me happier than anything else.

oh wine art, how i have missed you.  it was great to be back!

xoxo,

alex

p.s. : dear kind visitor, if you have made it this far, please let us know what you are enjoying (or not) in the comments below!  also, would you like us to sell hand-painted earrings on etsy?  thank you in advance!

What's in Your Fridge and What We had for Dinner

Artists for the Evening :

Joan, Donna, Rita, Jen, Robin, Melanie, Lauren, Gina, Naty
 

Menu :

Joan made pasta and roasted vegetables, escarole & beans, and glazed carrots.  Delicious!

Donna brought homemade gnocchi with pesto and sautéed tomatoes.  Scrumptious!

And for dessert … Greek cookies shaped like faces … one of Joan’s amazing creations.

While Joan bustled around her great vintage kitchen, the Wine Art Girls were treated to an electronic tour of Dubai and the Philippines.  Jen having just returned from there had cool pictures and fun stories about a smelly fruit called durian.  There were a few present that had had the fruit before and the descriptions ranged from: it smells like rotting flesh … no, it just smells like rotting garbage … to … oh, it doesn’t smell THAT bad!   And besides, once you get beyond the smell, it tastes really good.  I dunno.

During dinner Lauren talked about a great website: supercook.com where you can enter the ingredients you have on hand and it will suggest recipes that include just those ingredients

We also talked about Pinterest - brilliant for making mood boards and general imagery collections.  Careful, it will affect your shopping habits – as you become much more picky and expect everything to look just as beautiful.  (Oh, and also great for recipes, DIY tricks, and clever household/beauty fixes!)  Here's a few screenshots from Alex:

(new posts from people she is following)

(one of her boards; "Adventurage")

(a few of her boards...see, addicting)

Then Gina breezed in – having battled parkway traffic from Stamford to Cheshire – and she was sporting a gorgeous pair of dangly pearl earrings made by our favorite local jewelry designer “Lita Designs”.  Check out her shop on Etsy: LitaDesigns.

The conversation swung from classy earrings to squirrel problems.  As Joan as had one living in her basement for almost a week and just today Naty and her wielded brooms and rubber boots to try to scare it out (well, really Joan had to cook for WAW and needed to get to the basement fridge – Naty, you truly are a great friend!)…I digress.  After screaming for five minutes and running around the basement, they soon realized that it was actually just in the have-a-heart trap trying to get out – hahaha.  Joan’s husband was going to release it in a park the next morning.  Mission accomplished!

We discussed what to do with old brushes.  

Source: google.com via Lillygrace on Pinterest

All artists have them – they are mangy, hard, nasty, scruffy looking things and what are we supposed to do with them??  You can’t just throw them away.  Well…you should make little sculptures out of them.  Construct a face out of a molding material and affix it to the ferrule so that the bristles become the hair of the figure.

Jen did a painting of a durian and then kidded about how fun it would be to have a scratch & sniff painting.

We talked a lot about the business end of WAW … how we can keep this phenomenal concept going and still get the little jobs done that are required to run an Etsy shop and Blog, plus all the backend administration like shipping and budgeting.  It’s easy to cook great food, get together with terrific friends, and then spend the evening painting, talking, figuring out life, and laughing together.  But there are the little behind-the-scenes jobs that keep the heart of WAW beating and we’re trying to work out the bugs so that we can bring delightful paintings and a fun blog to our faithful followers.

I talked about a wonderful, life-changing book (yes, worth it!) which has been published by one of WAW’s most generous supporters.  The book is called “The Game of Life and How To Play It”.

Its underlying theme is maintaining a positive outlook on life and believing that the “good” in life will happen.  Truly a gem of a book.

So we finished the evening with a number of successful paintings, a bit of wine missing from each bottle, laughter, conversation, and a sense of well being.  Food, Art & Friends … now how great is that?

<3 Rita

Etsy is Up-To-Date!

Enjoy!

<3 Alex

PS: Use the code 1ReadYourBlog to receive 5% off your purchase!

Baby Brain

I guess that I had major baby brain on Wednesday night...twofold, now that I think about it.  (I'll explain; I'm 16 weeks pregnant - hence me being the "Sober Blogger" - and one of my best friends had a baby on Tuesday that I got to meet and hold on Wednesday!)  Anyhow, I forgot to take notes during the evening or even photos of the food!  Later that evening when just Joan and I were left and we were finishing the clean-up, I suddenly realized and started to rack my brain and write down our conversations...so here goes my attempt!

Another successful evening, painting- and "freeing" -wise!  Denise completed her second painting (ever), Gina began her first, and Al (the first guy to actually paint at a WAW) completed his first (ever)!  I don't think Al was too pleased with my Disney Movie Playlist, but he got a dose of what WAW's are all about; being yourself!  (He also got to hear our terrible...I mean...lovely voices singing "Sisters" from the movie "White Christmas.")

That's Jen painting away and Al moving quickly, haha.  

We had a really wonderful discussion about Ally's Law.  I recently (and finally) got around to reading one of my Glamours from a month or so ago, and was happy to see that it was the issue including the "Top 10 College Women."  (Ahh, reminiscing about Maya Shankar, a friend of mine, when she was featured as "The Scientist" in 2006.)  Ally Bain was featured as this years' "Activist" and the law she has already had passed in a few states to enable people with Krohn's Disease and other gastrointestinal disorders to use restrooms wherever they may need them.  (Click here for the Glamour link and here for more on Ally's Law.)  Since I know a few people with such issues, I know how important her work is.  Al, being an EMT, also agrees and said that he had a friend with "the card" that you keep in your wallet to show employees, so that you may use the bathroom - AMAZING!

Here are our pallets (paper plates, not very glamorous, but very effective!).  We also use up the leftover paint to prepare blank canvases for art!

I still can't stop thinking about beautiful newborn Reid Hudson K.  Awww, his little eyes when they peeked at me and his tiny yawn and toes, but long, dark hair!  (Luke and Dana made it look like a little mohawk - adorable.)  I'm so distracted by his cuteness in my memory!  Thankfully, being extremely happy is highly conducive to painting and painting leads to happiness, so I was all smiles and couldn't have had a better WAW.  Here are our paintings!  (Some are already listed on our Etsy!  The rest will be up on Monday.)

(Clockwise from top left: Group, Joan, Rita, Jen, Gina, Alex, Group)  See, we started a new thing where we also use up our leftover paint by having "group" canvases...it's so fun to see what each person adds to it!  (Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo of Al's before he left and Denise's snowman was already displayed elsewhere, but you can see it on Etsy by Monday!)

See you next week!

<3 Alex

PS: Do you want to see us do a specific type of painting?  You can see that this week we did a Christmas theme!  Let me know my commenting or sending me an email at WineArtWednesdays [at] gmail [dot] com !!!