Paint Night Surprise!
Happy Saturday everyone! I really wanted to share this little story from last night's Paint Night!
First, I'm so proud of this lovely lady, Ivory! She completed her second-ever painting with me in our one-on-one class, and she delivered! It took us only three hours, minus the time of fun conversations!
Let me tell you a little about Ivory, because this story is an inspiration to me and an example of why I love fusing my two passions, art and dance. Miss Ivory Garcia is a Lawyer, Engineer, Marketing and Business Consultant by day and a Belly Dancing, Tri-Athlete by night/weekends!! She is fluent in Spanish, English, and Portuguese, and almost there with Italian and French. She's visited 35 plus countries and has 20 plus years of experience at Global Enterprises and is currently Director of Emigrausa, LLC. Ivory has been a belly dance student with Belly Motions for two years now! She is a smart, talented and non-stop, active woman!
Ivory came to me asking if she could challenge herself to create a painting for her home. She had painted only one other in her life with me a couple months ago at a Painting Party I hosted. I said yes, of course, come to one of my Paint Night's at Belly Motions and I will help you! Usually we make 9 X 12 inc paintings but she was looking to do a large, 24 by 36 inch painting for a special place in her home. Larger sizes can be a little daunting to some people, but her adventurous side emerged and was excited, no complaints! I said - she really wants it, so let's do it!
What I didn't know was that she has been studying for the state BAR of California for the past six months, and has had so many sleepless nights with intense studying that she was so eager to come and paint! Last night it ended up being just the two of us, turning out to be better than expected! I had my canvas in the same size next to hers, we painted, laughed, told stories, and simply had a great "girl-time."
This morning she messaged me and said:
"Well, I can tell you that after our painting session last night, I was so inspired and focused that I studied for three more hours effectively!"
Mind you - we left the studio at around 11:30pm! I laughed out loud and wondered how she did that! It brought true happiness because I knew that the power of Art had just appeared and thanked both of us!
Thank you, Ivory, for believing in me, the power of the arts, and in yourself, climbing to the challenge of a 24 x 26 inch canvas! You did it girl!
If you're wondering what those men are doing there... Our students are rehearing for our Annual Theater show, Saturday March 4, and we needed a good-looking audience of... inspiration... while we practiced. * wink wink* They were our gallery visitors for our paintings last night too, haha!