Learning how to “Art”

We are currently away from home enjoying a lovely Floridian vacation.

It’s really rough 😉 hahaha

We lounge by the pool, we lounge at the beach, we lounge at the condo. The other day we were lucky and were offered a boat ride so we lounged on a boat…

It has been an awesome, restful trip thus far.

Yesterday, though, in between church and lounging, Mimi had the idea to contact an acquaintance of hers, Patricia McEntire, an accomplished painter, to see if she would like some company for a while, and an opportunity to show off her works. She of course said yes.

So off to what I assumed was the gallery we went! 5 of us in my little aluminum can car.

We got to our destination and I quickly realized this wasn’t a gallery, this was Patty’s home.

I’ve never seen anything like it.

You walk in the front door and you’re in a comfortable living room – tv, sofa, lounge chairs…

And eeeeevery inch of wall is hung with paintings.

Beautiful, beautiful paintings.

The kids were pretty non-plussed, honestly, walking through the door. But as they started to understand what it was they were seeing their eyes got bigger and bigger and bigger…. until we finally made it through the house into the workspace where there are more prize-ribbons than I could count, and just gads and gads of paintings on the walls, on the floors…

Absolutely incredible.

She took the time to chat with the girls and explain her process. Or maybe processes? She delightfully doesn’t paint in ‘one style’ hahaha She showed the girls her paints, her brushes, her GEMSTONES, and packaged up samples of all three for them to bring home and experiment with. She showed off different paintings and explained how she did them – some beautifully realistic while others are literally done with leftover paints and totally abstract.

There were watercolours and acrylics; there were zebras in snow, and cats with yarn. There were beautiful flowers in beautiful vases, and Seussian-style-florals with no rhyme or reason. There was glitter. Stencils. Rollers. Birch trees and paint splatters.

Near the end of our visit Patty got really excited and went rummaging through her stacks of paintings for sale, and then she gifted one EACH to my girls. My tiny princess got a stunning carousel horse COVERED in gemstones and glitter – she immediately sat down and with a dry paintbrush pretended to be painting it herself. My elder minion was given a stunning abstract, including a piece of paper outlining its meaning: fun; colourful; determination; delicate; balance; challenge; a game of who wins; clever; patience; skill. She then got a lesson on the techniques used to make it.

I was speechless. I’m still speechless. What an honour.

We came back to the condo and asked the kids if they wanted to play a game and they said NO! hahaha Out came the sketchbook, and the search for inspiration began. My eldest was struggling with her ability to get what she was seeing down on the page because what she was producing wasn’t “good enough.” But no, kid. That’s not what art is! That’s why I was so bad at it hahaha If my pictures weren’t 100% realistic looking they weren’t RIGHT. But art is about your impression, your interpretation. It’s about YOU. She nodded her understanding – I hope she really meant it.

Then over dinner we had a lovely family conversation about art and creativity. About life! I told her what I am just now learning, at 36, which was SO incredibly evident walking around Patty’s apartment. We do NOT have to fit inside the box. Don’t colour inside the lines. Don’t do stuff just because you think you have to do it. You don’t HAVE to grow up and “get a job” anymore. We talked about musicians like Lindsey Stirling, the Piano Guys, or Pentatonix… Stirling didn’t grow up and become a doctor, she’s a freaking DANCING VIOLINIST ON YOUTUBE. She made that crap up!! And she’s EXCELLENT AT IT.

I have no idea the effect of the day and the conversations on my kids, but I certainly walked away from it all feeling a lot more inspired, and a lot more focused.

I struggled with this blog site earlier after we first launched it last year, but I was trying to do what all the other bloggers said you have to do. I was fighting against myself and getting overwhelmed trying to fit into the successful-bloggers-box. And yeah, it’ll be nice to be making tons of money writing in here one day, and yeah, it’d be nice if the one day happened immediately. But you know what? That formula isn’t me. That box doesn’t fit me. And when I fight against who I am THAT is when I really start to fall into the pit.

So we’re going to do things my way. We’re going to learn and we’re going to grow, and just enjoy the ride. Because I’m not other people. My ideas are different, my execution my own. No one can make me anything but what I want to make myself.

And myself is the only one of me out here, so I’d better stick with her.

Thank you SO much, Patty, for an incredible experience. And for the beautiful beautiful art. I cannot wait to redecorate the girls’ rooms at home and feature your pieces so they always see and remember the amazing lessons you taught us yesterday.