Fascinations with Robert Ivey Ballet

This post is coming a few days later than I had hoped, but I think I needed time to process the whole event.  This event was so great, in so many different ways.  We had a Fascinations performance both Friday night and Saturday night, (Jan 18 and 19) and I really loved seeing it both nights.  I was able to take in more on the second night; little details of the dance or costuming I hadn't noticed before.  This was a huge experience for me.  I think I am very, very glad to have participated in this event. If you want to read about how this came about, check out the post here.  It's a cool story about synchronicity, written by my good friend Laura!  And painting on such a scale, what an eye-opening experience that was!  It truly is a full-body movement to get paint on the canvas when you use giant brushstrokes like I was doing.  And a ladder.  One must have a ladder to reach up so high!  So I was climbing the ladder, and flinging paint around with my 4" paintbrush, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Just before we delivered it to the theatre.

After the show I was approached by someone who is in charge of outdoor murals around Charleston.  He invited me to do a wall of my own!!  I was thrilled, and I have a feeling I will be tackling that project soon :)  It's called the Outdoor Art Initiative and Gallery; Check out their Facebook page; they have some pretty cool stuff over there.  Everyone in this group seems very open and friendly, and I am excited to learn more about what they do.  

On stage!

One other cool thing about this project is that both of my girls were involved in this project.  Especially my 4 yr old.  She loved it and she was inspired to work on a larger scale too.  She actually decorated the back of the couch one night recently with sidewalk chalk, and I couldn't be mad because I know where this came from.  It was from watching me paint so big; she only wanted to do the same.  I thought a good way to channel this inspiration onto a more suitable substrate would be to hit the art store and buy a canvas for her.  So that's just what we did!  Here she is starting to work.  I love how kids just jump on it; no hesitation or concern about how it will turn out.  They just get straight to work :)

Can you guess her favorite colors??

So yes, this was quite the experience for the entire family.  I want to thank my hubby for going the extra mile on this - he helped me get my canvases home and then delivered to the studio.  He watched the kids, so I could work, and he gave me feedback when I got stuck or panicked.  He's the best.   Pure Theatre also played a big part in this.  They gave me my canvases!  They had used them in a previous play, and the canvases were just sitting in their storage area, so they saved me a lot of time by me not having to build these canvases.  Thank you!!! If any of you are local in Charleston, you really should go see a play over there.  Those guys are super passionate about what they are doing.  And they are doing a phenomenal job of it!