Thursday, June 25, 2026 A Good Friend, An Acrylic Adventure

I hosted a paint party recently. It was my job to not only find enough people to come, but also to pick out the painting that we would do. I had about 10 paintings to pick from. They were all quite nice, and I dragged my feet on the selection. Finally, the event was drawing nigh and I had to choose, so I picked one that I thought was quite striking.

The paint party was lots of fun and I got to know some of my neighbors a little better. It’s always interesting to see how the paintings turn out when you do one of these paint parties. They’re all basically the same subject with the same paint, but rendered in different ways. Still, that striking painting struck me differently when I thought about where to put it in our house. The bright red and yellow in the sky just didn’t fit anywhere here. What to do?

My good friend Teresa visited today and among other things we talked about that painting. She is an interior designer, a skill I do not possess on any level (hence, picking a painting that doesn’t work well in my house).

“Should I just throw it away?“ I asked.

She looked at it thoughtfully and said, “I wouldn’t do that. Why don’t you repaint the sky and the sun? You could put in some more muted tones that would make it more suitable“ The fact that she thought I was capable of this was quite encouraging. I had a few dozen small containers of acrylic paint that I had not looked at nor opened in probably 15 years. Why not?

As soon as she left, I got to work. It felt rather touch and go the whole time. At one point I accidentally spilled a little orange paint in the sky and had to just blend it in and hope for the best. The final result, while not perfect, is a painting that I think I can find a place for on one of our walls. I would not have been brave enough to try it without her encouragement.

That’s the difference that a good friend can make.

I’ll probably repaint this post in the morning.