Curries & Ornaments

Our Menu:

Rita made curried vegetables, cornbread, and brown rice and Joan made sausage & kale soup, homemade bread, and a (dairy-free - thanks!) Thai surprise for me.  Yum, WAW is as much about the food and friends as it is about the painting!  And while, unfortunately, I couldn't try it, Al brought TWO amazing flans over - all the other girls were raving!  (Thanks Al!)

Our painters this week: Al (the only guy to have painted at a WAW - and he's done it twice!), Alex (that's me!), Audrey, Gina, Jen, Joan (pronounced "Jo-Anne"), Lauren, and Rita!

Rita had the genius idea to use the glass ornaments I had in my supply closet for a year or two (ha!) to each paint our own ornaments and then have a grab bag of sorts so we each have our own, original, WAW 2011 ornament!

(Audrey's and Lauren's!)

I love that everyone had such a different style (and thank you Audrey for coordinating the grab bag and writing out the numbers - how fun!).  I actually put the paint inside mine and swirled it around a bit, leaving some glass clear so you could see the inside as well.  Then the other girls perfected the art by putting the paint in the extra ornaments and doing a first for WAW - a "WAW Art Wiggle Work-out!"  (Thanks Lauren for that awesome name.)  **TUTORIAL ALERT**  Basically use the most liquid fluid acrylics, pour a little at a time in to the ornament, cover the hole, and SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE!  (Joan even put a cranberry in hers to really move the paint around - great idea!  *Note: If you try this at home, don't forget to take it out after!*)  It's a lot of fun to watch and I think they end-up looking like huge marbles, just very lightweight!

 WAW!

(In the bowl, Mine, Rita's, and Laur's second!)

(Joan's really looked like a marble.  And she painted "Merry" on the outside - beautiful!)

Lauren told us about "Canvas and Cocktails" in Denver, CO.  A friend of hers surprised her with the event when she was there one weekend and she did a Mimosa one.  Basically, we ALL want to do it and we already started to mentally plan a trip.  It is extremely reasonable!  Classes are usually $35 or $40 and Tuesdays - Saturdays from 11 am - 5 pm you can pay $25 (including materials - a 16x20 canvas!) and paint with a bar at your side in their Open Studios.  Yes, I want one.  I want a Canvas and Cocktails.  (They are on Facebook and Twitter too.)

[I forgot to mention it last week, but Lauren is also the proud owner of Hope Clips, LLC.  I'm mad that I forgot to tell you because it is SO AMAZING!  Actually, a few of the girls bought some more this week - hehe, they are addicting and because they are hand-beaded in South Africa, you always fall in love with another one!  HOPE stands for "Helping Other People Everyday" and it is truly wonderful what it supports - Fair Trade AND Hopes and Dreams International.  You can shop online HERE and she's also on Facebook and Twitter.  Not only are they beautiful (I have four and still want more), but they are really comfortable.  My Dentists' office always loves them because you can lie back without any pain!  Go Hope Clips!]

We also talked about my terrible taste in movies (I'm happy, so I don't care - hehehe) and about some great book called "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" which I had never heard of.

It sounds amazing - I'm adding it to my Wish List!  We talked about Malcolm Gladwell again and a few of his books and Al told us about shopping at the outlets recently.  He was shocked to see a certain store with a $600+ suit jacket that said "Made in China."  I told them all about how outlets use different manufacturers than their main stores, usually.  (I think I actually learned that from Consumer Reports rather than Parsons!)  So even if that particular store used Italy for their stores' manufacturing, they might use China or India for their outlets so that production costs are cheaper.  Before that article and my fashion design degree, I always thought outlets just carried the "leftovers" and it seems that everyone else thought that too!

We also had a laugh about the things "that don't make it to the blog."  If you are reading this and wondering what we're talking about - then it is time to start your own version of WAW (or Canvas and Cocktails)!  It's SO simple!  Just grab your friends and some wine and juice, get cooking, and find some art supplies!  (Even a paper and pencil/pen/markers/highlighters/anything will do!)  It's all about reconnecting face-to-face with our friends and family and feeling alive.

I'll leave you with my favorite view:

Happy FRIDAY readers!
<3 Alex


PS: Our Etsy Shop will be updated with the newest paintings by Monday!  (Thank you Gina for taking the photos for Etsy this week and Rita for writing the descriptions!!!)