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I took a painting class last night at a local gallery, taught by the wife of one of my co-workers. She's a retired art teacher, but is also an artist in her own right. She started teaching painting classes just as something to fill her retirement time. She turned out to be an excellent instructor - she got me from a blank 16x20 canvas to a finished painting that actually resembled what we were trying to mimic. It was quite an impressive feat.

Way to go, Julie! Kudos for stepping outside your comfort zone and rocking a new art form!

Kelli

you did an amazing job!!!

Wow...that is awesome Julie!

I'm so proud of you! Not only did you just go for it - you did a great job!
I hope it gets a place of honor in your home.

Good for you!!! I hope you will continue to paint!

that rocks!! See what we can do when we just 'go with it'!

Wow Julie! Great job! I'd hang it. It reminds me of someone else's style - Chagall maybe? No, not Chagall - it'll come to me.

Great job and definitely should be hung for display

Wonderful job on this piece Julie and your layouts are terrific.

Thanks everyone! Pam P - the original (the one the artist made up for the class instructions) is inspired by Raoul Dufy. As part of the class, she talked about his style - the loose, wavy lines, and the mixing of paint while leaving it streaky, and having clearly visible brush strokes.

I had seen all of her class paintings on her website, and she had March 29th on her schedule as painting TBD. I noted how fabulously the Dufy inspired scene would go in my kitchen. So she e-mailed me back and said she'd be happy to do that one and updated the schedule. So of course I signed up. And would you believe she supplies everything (including the 16x20 canvas), and the class is only $30???? Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'll be doing more of her classes. How could I not?

And you want to hear something really funny? Those of you who've met me in person will find this hilarious - I was the most relaxed and free-flowing person there. In the upper left photo of the second page, is a lovely gentleman named Saul, who had taken several of Terri's classes before. As she was telling us what to sketch, he took his ruler and made measurements of the original. He also requested templates for the wine bottle and glasses. He even asked for templates for the grapes. LOL. Some of the paintings he'd done with her before apparently included more clear definition of exactly how something should be, and this whole free flowing wavy line thing stressed him out. He said so several times - "Terri, I find this painting stressful!". Meanwhile, I'd brought a bottle of wine, and by the time we were actually painting, my primary comments were "wheeeee!". Painting grape circles was by far my favorite thing.

And yes, it is already hanging in my kitchen, which was already wine themed. It needs to be hung better, because right now the canvas frame is just balancing on a 3M hook that was already there. I need to get a string of some sort attached to the canvas so that one good bump doesn't knock it off the wall. But I LOVE it, and had to get it displayed right away.

Julie, I'm sitting here laughing at your story. It looks like fun. Great result!

Great job on the canvas and the layout