Art is in the eye of beholder – or maybe their garage
For the last several years, Paint and Sip parties have gained in popularity. Often they’re used as fundraisers for charitable organizations but do take place just about every night of the week in a variety of venues. For a nominal fee groups or individuals gather with an artist/instructor and are provided with paint and canvas and a design to replicate.
Wine is served, socializing is encouraged and at the end of the night everyone has created a painting to take home. I’ve attended a few through the years, proud of the sense of accomplishment in something that’s definitely not in my wheelhouse. The joy is in the doing and the spending time with friends, and getting outside your comfort zone.
Not long ago we added my masterpieces to a box of household items being donated to a local thrift store. That got me to wondering what others do with their paint and sip masterpieces so I polled my friends. After reading their responses, I’ve concluded that there really should be an annual art show of these paintings which could then be sold to benefit charity — kind of a celebration of well-intentioned bad art. Lisa Seher is a big fan of the activity and replied, “My husband said he’s going to start using them like sheet rock to finish the garage. I love the paint nights that much.”
Liese Razzeto: “Closet then goodwill. As fun as it was, I truly have no talent.”
Cheryl Freeman: “I hang some then closet the rest.”
Sharmon Schmitt: “It goes to our Garagetown Storage. Fun to do; however (husband) Don is the one with the artistic talents!”
Jenni Grimmett: “My best friend gave me one she did that I cherish.”
Sara Houser and Lynda Thurman have a bit more artistic ability than most since they both have their artwork displayed at home.
Tami Martinez: “My kids have taken some and I have donated some to thrift stores, except for one that is hanging in the guest bathroom behind the toilet.”
Callie Cabe: Some on the wall ... some I paint over and do my own painting.
Sarah Gondo, who has yet to experience a paint and sip night, on the thrift store donations: ‘I’m pretty sure they have a dumpster in back labeled “drunk lady paint night art.’”
Toni Caywood: “We call it garage art and that’s where it stays.”
Jill Satterly: “It’s sitting on the floor, because I keep intending to hang it on the wall, but I truly have zero talent, so it just never gets hung.”
Marlo Gerber has her paint night artwork hanging in her home office, Vicky Jo Carey intends to do the same but hasn’t gotten around to hanging hers yet.
Heidi Rogers has the perfect parental payback: “Of course I give it to my son for Christmas. I have had his art hanging in my office for years.”
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For a lifetime I’ve marked the date of my birth in May but Feb. 24 is when I celebrate my second chance birthday. That’s the day in 2006 that stents were placed in two coronary arteries that were nearly 100 percent blocked. I dodged the heart attack bullet by maybe a day or a week or a month. Without the intervention of the Kootenai Heart Center, I would have had a heart attack that I may or may not have survived. I did have a heart attack two years later on Jan. 17, 2008, but getting to the emergency room at the outset allowed the trained medical professionals to again place stents and permanent damage was prevented.
Coronary heart disease is America’s No. 1 killer, claiming twice as many people as all forms of cancer combined. It is not a man’s disease or an old person’s disease. It’s an equal-opportunity disease that’s been particularly prevalent in my Baby Boomer generation. We’re not dumb, we’re in denial.
Being proactive and assertive where medical care is concerned is vital. I continue to be humbled by the knowledge that for whatever reason I’ve been given not one but two second chances at life. www.heart.org.
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Things to Do: Friday, Post Falls Rotary’s Agave Tequila Tasting and Celebrity Margarita Shake-off. 6 to 9 p.m. at the American Legion Banquet Hall in Post Falls. www.agaveforrotary.com
Saturday, Teddy Bear Clinic at Heritage Health, 1090 W. Park Place, Coeur d’Alene, 10 a.m. to noon. Children bring their favorite stuffed animal to learn about visiting the doctor. outreach@myheritagehealth.org, 208-292-0280.
Miss Gem State Stampede 2019 Coronation and dinner/auction in Building 1 at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds. 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
On Sunday, the rescheduled 22nd annual Frosty Bunz Run, 9 a.m. at Lawrence’s Motorcycles in Coeur d’Alene, ride ends at Curly’s Hauser Lake.
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Happy birthday today to Ron Ouren, Maycie Goodlander, Brock Bauman, Barb Eveland, Phil Romans and Jared White (40!). Tomorrow Megan Reagan, Diane Zell, Jerry Moss and Paige Watkins celebrate. On Friday Mark Sales, Tami Crawford, Joseph Louck, Billie Jo Campbell, Jim Clark and Jack Lash take another trip around the sun.
Celebrating Saturday are Sydney Knox, Janet Curry, Shawn Telford, Corinna Hunter, Diane Mort, Louise Robeson, Bill Kaufamn, Holly McNee, Denise Wilbanks and Marion Brendis.
Sunday birthdays belong to Ingrid Allen, Sheila Wooley, Betty Leonard, Tamara Booth, and Barb Koerner. Nathan McLeod, Peter Braunlich, Barb Dietrick, Rosalie True and Jimmy Conrow mark their special day on Monday. Brad Medlock, Tina Hough, Lauren McShea, Jeremy McComb, Carolyn Peterson, Peter Braunlich, Clara Hester, Sherry Wallis, Sunny Day and Ron Gonzales will celebrate on Tuesday.
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Kerri Rankin Thoreson is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the former publisher of the Post Falls Tribune. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press and Kerri can be contacted on Facebook or via email mainstreet@cdapress.com. Follow her on Twitter @kerrithoreson.