WHAT A GIFT

Thank you all for joining us on Saturday, February 28 at Island Home Furniture. Event vision curated by Vicky at Gather.

To be able to invite a collection of incredible women to join me and learn how to paint —it’s a gift. I never imagined blending my educational background with my passion for painting. About two years ago I began thinking about putting on paint nights, but in all honesty it all sounded so daunting. Where would I get the supplies? Where would I store them? How would I teach them how to paint something? WHAT would I teach them to paint? What if I sucked?

All questions that persisted and prevented me from doing anything about this little voice that told me to just do it. I’m glad I broke my own barrier and figured out all of the little logistics, because here we are two years later and things are rolling…

When you show up to one of my paint nights — and many of you reading this have already been to a handful of them — you know that I often repeat this one phrase: Tonight we’ll really see if you are the OCD type, the ADHD type, or the I’m-here-to-have-a-good-time type. The painting process is just that — a process that reveals your strengths but also personal barriers. Painting requires you to let go of some inhibitions, follow direction, and execute to some level of accuracy for the landscape to come through. It’s a gift to watch you all explore your abilities, and struggles, throughout the process. And quite frankly, I see these evenings as a bit of a therapy session.

Everything from joy, excitement, tolerance, and frustration bubbles to the surface, especially when we hit the “ugly middle.” We artists use this term to describe the middle of our painting process — where the work is halfway done, brushstrokes are imperfect and so are the colours, and there’s just something not quite right. It’s the part of the process where it’s sink or swim. We decide whether we push through and believe we can do it, decide if we rip up the piece, or if we put it in a time-out and take a break from it like we would an ex-boyfriend.

This ugly middle is challenging for even the most seasoned creator. To be able to watch you all create and push past your challenges, notice your internal dialogue, and move on to the finish line is so rewarding. And I know you feel it too. When I hear the conversations happening at the end — when you look at one another’s paintings and those jaws drop — I know, and YOU know, you did it. And you are proud of it, even when at the beginning you thought you couldn’t do it. It’s a beautiful thing to see you bring my past paintings to life, so thank you for giving me the opportunity to relive my own creative process through your hands.

I have to tell you — THANK YOU — for letting me use whatever this creative gift is to guide you in this creative process. To give you the space to create. I hope to see you at the next event.

xo MJ