Tuesday, March 10, 2020

Reigniting My Love for Painting

I love painting!  The art of creating... it is what I do for a living, which is a luxury, as it does not feel like work!  I create textile designs, bedding collections, and home textiles; working in the industry over 25 years... can hardly believe it has been that long!

Finding love in an old hobby is hard to do... first you have to find the time, then the courage to try it again... asking yourself "is it worth investing the time, the money... what if I am not really good at it?"

Cranbury Station Gallery runs these wonderful painting parties, and every time I got an invitation, I wanted to go.  What with work, commuting in and out of NYC, the time never aligned for my schedule... until now! 

I am working from home since December and when this invite came, and it was a floral theme, I couldn't been happier to say yes!  I have been framing artwork with Kathleen for all the years I have lived in the area, a long time - and as an artist, her work is so pretty!  She has it in the gallery in Princeton for sale, and I always love to go in and peruse what is hanging.

Kathy sends out emails and shows you an image of the project you will be working on.... and when you have the winter blues and long for the colors of Spring, painting flowers feels like the right thing to do!

Located in Palmer Square, next to the garage it was easy to park and I could not wait!  Almost all of the art I have purchased, that hangs in my home is related to botanicals...  why not try...



I attended to two parties - some of the people who attend are regulars!
The first class I attended we were to paint these pretty pink flowers in a vase... I thought what better way to start!  Kathy gives great direction, we paint from a painting that she has done - which can be helpful when getting back into the art, or starting from scratch.

As amazing as it sounds, every one of us looked at the same painting and every one of us had a different outcome; one prettier than the other!

Here is my first painting; after over 2 decades of not taking paint brush to canvas...
Kathy convinced me to sign it, lol!

Over the years I have done multiple murals for friends kid's rooms and lead the design on both post prom events for my kids High Schools, but this is more personal... therapeutic and relaxing!

I really enjoyed the evening.  
When I received the next invite, I set up a "date night" with my husband, who is also an artist in his own right... I planned a day, then the painting party and dinner next door at Mediterra for afterwards

... This time Kathy showed us that we would be painting daisies; my daughter's favorite flower... so we went!

We had a really fun evening and I am pretty happy with how it turned out!  I keep critiquing it,   how I would add  more shadows, and how else I could have approached it... but overall I am pretty pleased and proud of myself.... for taking on the challenge and just allowing myself to have fun!

Spring is in the air!
I am now waiting for the town of Princeton to hang all those amazing flower baskets that they do every year to make it official!

Take time to take a deep breath, try something new or go back to an old hobby you once loved!

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