Arrrrrt

Today was our annual Staff Fun Day.

We painted.

This was what we were aiming for:

(And YES, this is a variation of the mountain and lake and tree scene that my granny painted on mirrors and tiles and driftwood.) (One might think this sort of thing just flows through me because of DNA but one would be very wrong.)

My granny's sister (Aunt Agatha)'s daughter (Val) and her granddaughter, Vanessa have some talent:

They took a couple painting classes together ... above and below:

Plus Vanessa paints on her own:

My dad's side of the family is very artistic and handy with paintbrushes too. The pics below were painted by his twin sister, Margaret, her daughter, Ellie and her 8 year old granddaughter, Anna.

Aren't Anna's paintings cute?

(Feeling bad I have no photos of my granny's work. Just walked around my mom's house and can't see anything she painted here. You'll just have to trust me when I say she had talent as well.)

So glad Drew married Dani. For a whole bunch of reasons, one of them being her artistic talent. Love that we're infusing a bit of that back into our bloodline.

OK, sorry for the detour.
Back to my FUN PAINTING DAY at work.

This is Frieda, our instructor, from Zealous Art. She brought all the supplies.

And kept reminding us to breathe when we got tense.

This was my interpretation of the first step:

Others interpreted differently:

Adding mountain ranges was nerve wracking. I would've rather been at my desk, answering emails.

Next? Add green rolling hills and a blue lake.

And this is mine, so far:

Next up was trees.
And my back was ready to snap. All the tension in the world was residing in my shoulders.

I forgot to take a pic of my final, completed painting while at work (I was taking group shots), so here's mine, at home:

Kids were very kind and supportive.
So I'm painting a dozen more and everyone's getting one for Christmas.
Plus I'm going BIG. Going to reproduce this, as a mural on the wall at the cabin.


(Pssst.
No I'm not.
I'm good at making lists. Not holding a loaded paint brush.)



Three things I'm thankful for:

1. Fun days.
2. Sisters who chop off 8 inches of hair.
3. Spectacular full moons.
4. Artistic people.