We hit the halfway point this week! I will not be inundating you with bump photos but since this is a big milestone and people have asked, here’s my bump at 20 weeks taken right before we left for the Sounders vs. LA Galaxy game. People think it’s small but you should see it after I eat a hot dog.

20 weeks

Ever since we received the news of this pregnancy, I’ve been making an effort to do things that will get me out of the house, since it sounds like free time will be pretty limited after the baby comes. In a previous post, I mentioned that I was an art history major in college. In class each day, we were taught how to analyze and examine art through composition and context and find meaning. But the weird and ironic thing is, despite my ability to view art with a critical eye, I can’t DO art. I am inspired by creative people for their ability to execute their vision and ideas and put themselves out there for the world to see, but confess that I find it very hard myself to be creative.  I have always been envious of the ones who can look and create something out of seemingly nothing.

My friend, Jen, mentioned a Paint Nite event she once attended with several girlfriends in San Francisco and how fun an evening it was. So when a Gilt City email popped up in my inbox a couple weeks ago with a local Paint Nite deal, it caught my eye. Paint Nite is hosted at bars around the country, and anyone can go, have a cocktail (or two, the more the better probably) and paint a piece under the guidance of a local artist. It’s meant to be a fun, informal environment where no one is analyzing or critiquing your work, and you are encouraged to be as creative or as by-the-book as you want to be. (Guess which kind of artist I am?)

It was so fun! The event was held in the backroom at Von’s Spirits downtown at its new 1st Avenue location. There were tabletop easels and canvases set up around the room, with two paintbrushes and a paper plate filled with primary color paints  at each station to get us started. The teacher, Greg, showed us some basic techniques and guided the “class” through the step-by-step process on how to recreate his master painting- a landscape of a full moon over the Olympics.

Painting in the sky, mountains, and water first

To our surprise, it was easy enough, even though a couple of us had no painting experience. We started painting in the sky and the water, learning how to stipple and blend and dry brush to get the desired effects. When we began to fill in the foliage in the center of the painting, we were encouraged to improvise although my OCD ways didn’t allow me to go off the cuff too much from the teacher’s painting! There was a girl next to me who painted a more impressionistic view of the painting, using different paints, and her boyfriend painted a sandwich. To each his own.

Almost done…

Ta da! I know, don’t quite my day job right?

I highly recommend trying out a Paint Nite event in your area. It was neat to venture out of our comfort zones and try something different. Now that I am a tad more familiar with the process, I will hopefully be more comfortable coloring outside of the lines next time!