Friday, March 17

St. Patrick's Day Paint Night

For this month's game night we all decided to do a paint night led by Nicole since it was at her place this time.  Of course the guys all made different plans because they deemed painting a girl thing.  It ended up turning into a girls paint night instead of a game night for St. Patrick's Day.  A few weeks ago we all decided which painting we wanted to do via the Facebook group Cool Kids Doing Cool Things.  We voted on a few Nicole thought would be simple to do.  The night sky borealis ended up winning.

Nicole would do the shopping for the canvas, paints and brushes and we would each pay her for our materials.  She told us it would be $7 each which isn't bad considering the actual paint night places charge anywhere from $30-$45 to do one.  A few years ago I went with my mom, grandma, Angela, Trish and Amy for grandma's birthday to a paint night in Federal Way.  We did a Seattle themed one and it was a lot of fun except that we had to travel so far to do it on a Monday. 

That day at work, which was long because Friday's are long anyway, I couldn't wait for the weekend to start.  I was excited to do a paint night with my friends at the comfort of Nicole's house...no time limit, relaxed with some good food and company.  After work Suzanne and I hustled to get home so we could take a 45 minute nap before we went to Nicole's.  We got some food ready, Suzanne prepared cubed cheese, turkey and ham while I got some chips and salsa together.  Both were really not St. Patrick's Day food or even green but our conclusion was that it was food.  She slept in the guest room while I plopped in my bed.

5:45 showed up and I really didn't want to get up...sleeping was amazing!  Suzanne came in telling me to get up so we could go.  I got ready and put my shoes on.  We grabbed our food and drinks and she followed me to Tumwater.  She needed to leave earlier so we drove separate.  I had to stop at the bank really quick to get some money to give to Nicole for the supplies.  Suzanne decided not to do a painting but come just to be around some people.  We got there just after 6:15.

Nicole had invited Sarah, one of her co-workers from Safeway and now OIC, and it was fun chatting up with her again.  We were invited back New Year's Eve 2008/2009 to celebrate with Nicole at Sarah's house.  We reminisced about that night.  I can't believe it was that long ago.  Everyone was basically there except Lindsay and Megan.  Megan ended up carpooling with Lindsay from Rainier.  We just hung out until they got there. 

We decided to eat first.  Nicole made corned beef, Megan made some potatoes with cabbage and green onions mixed in called, Colcannon.  I brought chips and salsa, Suzanne brought meat and cheese, Sarah brought green cupcakes and Lindsay brought ice cream and some liquor to add to it if you wanted.  We ate, told stories and laughed.

Now it was time to paint. I made mention of Nicole's awesome table cloth of recycled Fred Meyer bags and masking tape.  She was pretty proud of it.  We all found a canvas and a seat and Nicole gave us instructions on how we were going to do this.  We were going to follow a YouTube video step by step with the Art Sherpa.  She was very quirky yet entertaining at the same time. 

We followed her step by step and took a few breaks here and there to let our canvas dry. 


We all reconvened at the table to add more layers to our painting.  We added some white and yellow blotches with sponges to our paint to give it a milky way type of look.  It was fun sponging our canvas.  I got mine to look pretty good and I was satisfied with what I had created.


Next, we spattered white all over it for the stars.  There was a technique we used, because we were all mostly beginners, where we put our canvas in a box, put paint on our brushes and flicked it at the canvas.  It was entertaining.  We all took turns.

Then we put our aurora borealis on our canvas followed by the horizon line and the trees we added over the top.  That was the last layer we added.  I took it two steps beyond and added a comet and a Death Star from Star Wars.  It turned out better than I imagined it being.  I was pretty stoked. 



It was around 11:30 and we all decided to head on home.  I was getting tired anyway.  I picked up my stuff, thanked Nicole for hosting and getting the supplies for us to use and headed back home.  When  I got home, I put my stuff away, hung my painting in the hallway and got ready for bed.  Nicole had talked about doing another paint night again soon but Disney themed.

Next Adventure:  Relay for Life Bowling

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