On a beautifully lit Sunday, summer evening the group gathered in a contemporary San Marco studio for a full night of fun and instruction at Painting With A Twist! As members and survivors slid in and took their choice of easel, pleasantries were exchanged and names were learned over delicious Taco Lu appetizers.
To get the party started the co-founders Katie and Kaitlyn took to the stage to encourage everyone to go around and not only introduce themselves, but to name one great thing that had happened to them so far this year. Given that there were five new members it was a very encouraging way to boost morale and community cohesiveness. The room became filled with the sound of accomplishment in the face of adversity echoed by smiles, laughter, and applause!
The evening’s goal… Zen Tree. This piece was an excellent choice for the group: enlightening, relaxing, encouraging (and good for beginners, too!) After Christine, the instructor, painted the first few steps everyone’s creativity and ingenuity started flowing.
While many members continued right along with Christine for the final project, the bravery of others was witnessed as they branched out and made their pieces totally unique concepts! It was great to hear the words of encouragement and compliments being passed back and forth when someone was unsure of a brush stroke or color choice!
About half way through artist’s fatigue set in and everyone was instructed to set the brushes down, stand up, and look to the front. Time for a mental break before finishing up the projects! To take member’s minds off the paintings, Christine had some prizes to raffle off and turned it into a quick game. The winners were sent home with a couple of beautiful pieces of artwork from the house!
The Live For Today students did an awesome job painting the Zen Tree! I’m so happy that I was able to spend time with such fun group of students and support an amazing organization. I loved the creativity in the class and how a few students painted off-topic and chose to paint the Live For Today logo, and of course, YOLO.
Christine
Painting Instructor
As the night was coming to a close the final strokes were being made. Everybody was wrapping up the creative works and the consensus seemed to be a feeling of accomplishment! Announcements were made of upcoming events, “ooh” and “ahh” were constantly exclaimed as paintings were brought together for a final group photo, phones were brought out so connections could be furthered, and what began with hand shakes a couple hours prior ended as hugs as the group closed down the studio.
Thank you to Painting with a Twist for a wonderful evening of laughter, creativity, and fun!
