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Wine & Paint Night = New Clock Designs

A good friend of mine retired from the Coast Guard and decided to move to Florida. Before the move, his wife wanted to do a wine and paint night with me. The scene we painted was a palm tree on an island during sunset. The night started out really fun. I enjoyed painting the sun and spending time with my friend’s wife. The longer the night went on, though, the more my anxiety crept up, especially when I started on the palm tree. I could not figure out how to make my leaves look good. The more I tried, the more of a mess I was making. My friend’s wife was having a great time and her picture looked really good. I stopped painting my picture and just enjoyed watching her and our conversation.

After we were finished, we looked at all the other paintings. Some ladies painted their pictures exactly like the instructor had (and as I tried). Other ladies used different colors or added things to their paintings. One lady used blue for the background and added a cat, if I remember correctly. My friend’s wife and I took a picture of us with our paintings and then went out to dinner.

I had a fun night and kept the painting and moved on with my life….until…a few months later, a co-worker asked me to design a clock for his wife. The way my co-worker described the clock he wanted sounded almost like the painting I did during wine night. He described it slightly differently, though, and being a new artist, I tried to give him exactly what he wanted. When that didn’t work out (who saw that coming?!?), I painted what I originally wanted to paint. My co-worker loved it. More importantly, his wife loved it.

I made a few more clocks and even some signs similar to that design and then I decided to do an art swap with a friend of mine. This time I wanted to do the exact painting we did during wine night. Alas, I cannot paint palm trees. I don’t remember what the joke was, but we did have an inside joke involving mushrooms. I improvised and he loved it.

All clocks and signs are available on this website.

For My Co-Worker’s Wife

Sign

The night that started it all

Nick’s Clock (no palm tree)

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How To Crack Paint

The amount of glue you use and how you spread it on will determine how big or small your cracks are. The thinner, more evenly you put it on, the smaller, more even your cracks will be.

The glue should be tacky-ish when you start painting over it. If the glue is too wet or you don’t use enough paint, the paint will mix with the glue. You want the paint to be on top of the glue. It may seem too thick the first time you do it. Just wait for it to dry.

It does not take long for the paint to start cracking. Once your thick layer has been applied on top of the glue, do not paint over it again because it is cracking.