“It was on my bucket list – paint a memory.”

Several times, I gathered my paints and tried to do just that! The problem was I could not settle on a memory. Also, I am not an artist. But last summer, I went to a “Coffee and Canvas” with my Mom and sisters. We had fun! I didn’t think the painting went well, but I ended up decorating around it!

My friends, Ken and Jill, spent most of this year traveling. During last winter, they went to the southernmost point of the United States and in the summer, they went to the North Pole! I do not get to travel and I enjoy the pictures and updates they send by email. They sent one picture of mountains in Alaska reflected in a lake that was just gorgeous! I downloaded and saved it.

Meanwhile, my friends Mike and Paula were buried in tulle! Two of their children had weddings three weeks apart! I don’t know how they survived. Ken and Jill were able to attend the one out-of-state, (I could not), and they made a video and took a lot of pictures. One picture, in particular, stuck out to me. It was the pond with a bridge that was in the background of one of the weddings. I asked Ken to send me a copy.

I picked up 2 – 11″ X 14″ canvases on a half-price sale. I made an inventory of the acrylic paints I had on hand and bought 6 more to have several shades of the colors I would need.

Then I got nervous. What was I thinking? I’m not an artist!

In the middle of the night, I started to regret my decision. The party where I would give these gifts was only a week away. I worked hard getting all the tasks for the next two days done and cleared a day to paint.

It was a bright, sunny day. I painted the most difficult one in the morning. After a long lunch, I painted the second one. I used 5 shades of blue and 4 shades of green on these two paintings. I enjoyed every moment of it – even if my island looked like a pickle!

My friends loved them! I captured my impression of one of their memories of 2017.

It’s true; it’s the thought that counts! I spent less than $15.00 and under 4 hours painting. Here are the paintings with the inspirational photo above them.