Just over a month ago, one of my super thoughtful friends reached out to a group of us to concoct an idea to make sure another one of our friends knew how much we loved and cared for her. After eleventy billion or so Facebook messages (which can be really difficult to keep up with, by the way), we came to an agreement: we were going to hire a fantastic painter to come hang out and teach us how to create an amazing work of art.

I guess ‘amazing work of art’ is subjective. All art is subjective, really. Thankfully. But, we were hopeful that this party, hosted at my girlfriend’s house, would just be another opportunity for us to get together, enjoy each other’s company, drink some wine and paint. Or, maybe it should have been paint and then drink some wine? I don’t know. It’s probably better to drink a bit first … 

Anyway, we were fortunate enough to know someone who knows her way around a canvas. Hopeful is how I feel when I think about Sara’s uber-unique style. Her pieces include vibrant colors and this adorable sense of whimsy that make her immediately likable. And then you meet her and you’re like, ‘yep, she’s totally cool like that.’ She’s working on building a studio in her new home, but if anyone ever asked for a referral for someone who can come in and make you feel completely comfortable as a terrible painter, she’s your gal. You can check out some of her other work on Facebook.

What I loved about our wine and canvas (notice … they are not called ‘canvas and wine’ parties; there’s a reason for that) spin-off is that Sara asked us for our input ahead of time. We had several prints that we brought all revolving around the idea of a sunset. Which, honestly, was perfect for our friend. Sunsets aren’t ‘goodbye’s’ … they are ‘see you later’s’. (remember how I love sunsets?) 

Sara, in her infinite awesomeness, started with a blank canvas as well. She told us numerous times that we couldn’t screw it up, that if we were getting stressed out to take a break (and a drink), and that this was going to be super easy. I liked that about her (even though she was lying). She also, numerous times, referred to us as church ladies. Wait, church ladies? No offense to anyone who I would typically put in the ‘church lady’ category but I was not wearing pantyhose, nor is my hair blue. And I’m no Dana Carvey. But, just like Sara, it was cute. We all enjoyed a laugh considering our future ‘church lady’ selves.

Instead of eight duplicate paintings, we had eight unique views of a sunset. Some of us incorporated trees, while others found ways to inject children and stars or in my case, a balloon. Still, one of us, incorporated every single little nuance to make sure we all know just how inferior our painting skills were in comparison. I swear I’m not bitter.

My painting is not perfect. In fact, at first, I kind of thought my small child (aka Connor) looked like an alien but again, thankfully, Sara was right there to fix him up a bit. The rest of the church ladies and I had such a great time. Sara said we were pretty cool for a bunch of church ladies, actually. I don’t know; maybe it was the wine. All I know is that I hope these girls remain my sisters until the day we do hang out in hose and blue hair.