Painting with a Twist

Banks lasted a whole hour this morning!  It was maybe even slightly cooler than yesterday morning.  I had a meeting at 8:30, and I was sorely tempted to put off the walk until later but it was one of those times when it was truly now or never. Both yesterday and today, I wore canvas shoes, sockless, but I know from experience that I'll start getting blisters if I push it any further than that.

So the reason it was now or never this morning was because Brian, Cindy, Janette and I had signed up for a "Paint Your Pet" class at this place called "Painting with a Twist."  What a blast! You email them a picture of your pet, they do a pencil drawing, and then the rest is up to you. You're encouraged to come with friends, and to bring a bottle of wine (we brought two), Believe me, that helped release the inhibitions. It was totally for amateurs, totally about silliness and fun, but also educational, for those of us who know NOTHING about painting.  I mean, who knew that if you have a black dog, you don't paint him with black paint?  You mix blue and red together! Or that you don't use white paint alone, but mix it with brown, or with blue and red.  It's entirely possible that everyone in the world knows that but me, but I felt artsy and sophisticated, mixing my paints together, wiping them on my apron, smearing different combinations together til they were just right.

There were about 45 "students," probably 40 of them women; 43 of the paintings were dogs, and the other two were Siamese cats. Everyone in that room loved their pets so much, and it made for a festive, happy, supportive atmosphere.  They have other, shorter classes for $35 and $45 -- I think wineglasses is one of them -- but the pet painting is the most popular, $55 for three hours.  We went well past our 9:30 stopping point, because the teachers were so generous with their time.

Here's Banks -- I have to say I'm rather pleased with my effort -- and below him are Cindy, Janette and Brian with Mercedes, Pyewacket and Cosmo, respectively.