Alla Prima

Two weeks ago I had the privilege of attending a dinner at Elements hosted by the incredible wedding photography duo, Michael and Anna Costa. Over the course of conversation, Anna and I discovered we shared two similarities: being the daughter of an art-teacher, and our long lost desire to take a painting class in Santa Barbara! It's been a year now that I've been looking into taking an oil class at Portico gallery, and Anna's enthusiasm immediately convinced me the time had come! After a traditional breakfast at Jeannine's, we embarked on out first class this morning. It was so fun! (Out of college for 4 months, and I'm already back in a classroom).

The owner of the gallery teaches these 6 week courses - a wonderful woman who had to continuously and ever so gently inform us that the pieces we wanted to paint were too difficult for us! We finally settled on compromises that we could be excited about (our eyes were bigger than our brushes) and were well on our way. Really I can't believe how much we did! Anna was completely outfitted with every painting tool ever made from her father, who I'm certain is so proud of her beautiful work! The plan is that in 6 weeks, once we are oil painting experts, we will advance to a plein air session with him outdoors in Santa Barbara - I can't wait. And so many thanks to my wonderfully talented mommy for giving me classes as a birthday present. We still need to take a class together too!