Paint Nite is something that normally conjures up images of wine and adults getting some of their creativity out on canvas while also getting in some ‘adult time’ to chat and have some fun.
I wasn’t sure what a Paint Nite with a bunch of teenagers and their teachers was going to look like but I figured, ‘why not?’ I mean, you know me…if it’s something new I’m all in! So I signed up and got my ‘kit’ from the school and went home to get set up.
My first problem is that I couldn’t find a place where I could easily with my computer and the canvas and everything else but with some finagling I made that work. However, it took me a little longer than I thought it would, so it was a little bit of a mess and I was a little unprepared to actually start. And yes, I did eat chicken nuggets for dinner…lol
Also, before you ask, Fat Snax are a great keto cracker even though, in my opinion, not well named. I mean, it’s cute and I get it but who wants to carry around something that says Fat Snax on it? Anyway, I started by painting the canvas white so the paint would stick when I started painting my turtle. Oh, did I mention we were painting turtles? Faintly surreal turtles since they were blue and had orange and yellow highlights, but turtles just the same.
After we got started, the process went quickly, sometimes too quickly. I think it was partly because we were all neophytes and teenagers generally try to make the things they are creating perfect. Who am I kidding? I do the same thing. I guess everyone does to some degree. So let me try that again. We were all feeling a bit rushed because we kept trying to ‘fix’ things we thought were imperfect when the Paint Nite lady kept going on without us.
Isn’t that a lesson? I didn’t see it until I typed in but it’s definitely something I need to learn to internalize, that imperfection is part of creation and you’ll rarely, if ever, create something perfect. What is it about humans that we are so disturbed by things we make that are imperfect? Little children create for the joy of it. They don’t judge, their purple dog that looks like a horse is absolutely what they meant to create. They aren’t bogged down in the details that make them feel like their work isn’t what they should have created or that something is ‘wrong’ with it.
I wish I had that epiphany when I was painting because I kept falling further and further behind as I tried harder and harder to copy the turtle they showed as an example. I don’t think I did a bad job, it just wasn’t what I could see in my mind’s eye.
So this was as far as I got. I might go back and try to do some more at some point, but for now it is just fine with me that I painted a turtle that is slightly incomplete.
After all, sometimes the real accomplishment isn’t finishing something but starting it and having a good time working on it. Which, surprisingly, and despite rushing to keep up, I actually did.
Duct Tape and Dreams 