Sips n Strokes

*Edited version-see below*
One of the fun things I did over the weekend was go to Sips n Strokes with Mandy!

We had so much fun!
(I had done this back in May of last year for my sister's birthday and loved it, so I was really looking forward to this, and it did not disappoint!)

Last time we were just doing a very contemporary-simple funky or crazy flowers (something like that) and it was not really something you would consider a real work of art, but was fun to do and I am planning on getting it framed an hung up eventually just because I can-if it is in a frame it will seem more important right!?! This time we were doing Almond Branch-a Van Gogh! A little more pressure people!!

You can see Mandy's amazing work of art here. Seriously-she is so talented, I love hers!

Mine looks a bit more Monet-like. Meaning, when you look at the style of the piece it looks like he was my inspiration, not Van Gogh. (and I am not saying it looks anything like Monet would have painted, I would truly be living in a delusion if I thought that for even a millisecond!!)

OK so on with the pictures:
In three hours (well, a little under 3 hours actually because we got started late, it was a completely full class!!) we painted these works of art!!

Our back grounds:

Our branches:

I am such a messy painterOur blossoms:

(I seriously stink at blossoms-so I just put as few of them as possible-maybe someday I will go back and fix this so it doesn't look like I painted this when I was 4 and in my preschool art class, but until then, I will frame it and hang it in my house with pride!!)
*Edited note*
**This totally reminds me of when I was a girl (about 6-7) and had entered a coloring contest at a local grocery store. We were coloring a Christmas tree page for some prize (I want to say it was a motorized car, or something like that-something we couldn't even dream of getting ourselves!) One day, after bringing home the treasured papers with the tree on it that we needed to color and turn in, Mom and Betsy came to me excited about a "good idea." Why don't I color presents onto my page to make it unique and to stand out from all the others! I ran excitedly to the table to take on that challenge, only to find that the reason why they had suggested that was because Kels (who would have been 2-3 at the time) had colored on my page-making these large oddly shaped boxes. I was furious! Both at Kelsey, for coloring on my precious coloring page, (which I was determined I was going to win the contest) and Mom and B for trying to trick me into being fine with the horrible multi-colored mess that had been scribbled on my masterpiece! -The difference between then and now, is that it is only my own fault for ruining my tree painting with the blossoms. I should have known to stop while it still looked at least decent instead of trying to copy that Van Gogh masterpiece by adding the blossoms. I guess I could blame the teacher-how could she suggest such a thing to me-untalented, untrained artist that I am, and expect me to leave with a finished product that I could proudly hang on the wall. But, the truth is, although it is far from great, and my blossoms truly are frightening, I still love it! I know I am not a master, but I am happy with what I was able to do, and I had a great time doing it! (At least I didn't give-up 2/3rds of the way through like one girl did and paint over my work of art with a giant yellow smiley face!) BTW, the little girl who won the prize from the grocery store...I am pretty sure there is no way she could have colored her page on her own, so I guess I was doomed either way.**

Finished products:(I am not really sure what was up with my hair that day-Oh yeah, it would be that I don't care, so I had just pulled it back with some pins after I got out of the shower that morning, and this was what it looked like by 10 o'clock that night...scary!!)