Lauren’s #8: Take a class to learn something new

When making my 30 for 30 checklist, it wasn’t all about doing things I’ve never done, or crazy stuff like skydiving. Colton and I both tried to think of thirty checklist items that we really cared about completing this year. By keeping my number 8 idea open-ended to “something new” I left myself with a lot of options!

We’re currently living at Rock Creek RV Resort in Naples, Florida. There are TONS of events, and activities planned by an amazing Activities and Communication Director named Christy Eibel. Yes, this rockstar is my own Mom.

When the opportunity for a “fluid painting” class came available, it sounded like something I could get down with! My Mom took the class last year and said it was really fun- you mix paints together to create a masterpiece, then you get to use a blow torch. SOLD.

The class was taught by two Rock Creek residents- Trudy and Kim. They both dabble in art and Trudy’s home is covered with different creations of fluid paintings. How cool!

The class started with some instruction on how to mix the acrylic paint with a liquid called Floetrol (this product helps paint flow and have more workability). Kim and Trudy gave a demonstration on how to mix, how to apply the base layer to a canvas, how to fill a cup with the colored paints and then how to create our own pieces. You cannot go wrong when it comes to fluid painting- if you don’t like what you see, keep working! You can use many techniques to help spread the paint around- blowing air, using a straw or stick, adding paint directly and even using a blow torch!

After the demo, we were sent on our way to give it a try! I chose to do a black background because it seemed like the colors would pop more. After gloving up, I spread the black paint across the canvas and made sure the layer covered every part of it. Then, I visited the colors table and carefully picked the tones that spoke to me that morning. First I poured in a dark turquoise, then a light turquoise, followed by light purple and a splash of white.

I plopped the cup facedown on my canvas and watched the magic start to happen. With a slight pull and twist, I spread the colors across the canvas. After it seemed mostly empty, I lifted the cup and put it down in another corner. Finally, I used a popsicle stick to scrape out some remaining colors. Then the fun started. I blew air into the piles of paint to reveal different colors underneath, I tried a straw as well. It was so fun to see different patterns forming and bubbles popping of the hidden colors.

I added some more white to balance the colors and received some feedback from the instructors, but overall, realized I couldn’t go wrong! When I was satisfied with the overall look, I took the mini blow torch to give a few final touch bubbles.

After finishing up, I walked around to check out everyone else’s work. It was amazing to see the color combinations, different patterns and creativity.

Overall, awesome experience to check off the first item on my 30 for 30 list! The next one will be coming soon!!