Painting Date Night
When life gets really crazy in our household, my husband and I like to play a video game together. There's no thought required, no amount of planning or work, there's no obligation to even do something specific: it's nice to simply be in another world for an hour or two and challenge yourself in a different and relaxing way. And so after having not just a difficult week but a long, difficult, and overbooked month, all Justin wanted to do was play a video game.
The problem is that he gave up playing video games for lent.
So instead, we went to Michaels and picked up paints, some cheap brushes, some canvases, returned home, popped open a glass of wine and painted together.
There's something cathartic about painting: a softness of the brushes, a challenge in conceptualizing your painting, an immediate satisfaction in seeing a few strokes that you've done bring an idea to life. I can't completely speak for Justin, but ultimately the evening was so much more relaxing then I think even I anticipated.
So this will be a short post because ultmiately this is an act best experienced on your own, not through reading someone else's account. However, I' let you know what paints at least we decided to use and why:
We used craft acrylic paints because they dry fast, work well, and are cheap. They're something like 60 cents a bottle and you can get a bunch of colors or just the primaries for super cheap. Unless you really are an artist, these will work fine for you just fine. And they're non toxic so if you want to do a painting night with kids, these will work (I think. I'm not a parent but my parents let us use these when i was in elementary school). Here's a link to the Michael's site so you can see what they look like. They sell them at any craft store though. Just remember: they won't be with the paints, they'll be with the crafting paints - subtle but huge price difference. The crafting paints are intended mostly for painting ceramics or wooden models etc.
Put on some inspirational music and let your creativity flow!
