Gardenia Gratitude

Sometimes your path crosses with someone you should have known a long time ago.

That's how I feel about Yvette. We met by her seeing my art at our local bakery, De Azucar in Oviedo. When she saw my work at the Great Day in the Country art show, she took a card. Since that time she's taken an art class with me and become a fast friend. I realized quickly that she's a kindred spirit. She's a petite, hard-working mamma whose been living near me, loves creating art, raising her kids, worshipping God all while being relatively close by. We even have been sharing some of the same friends without my having ever met her until this year. For me, the best thing about living in Oviedo is all of the small-town cross over!

When she wanted to host a watercolor night for her small group to celebrate a few milestones and memories, I was thrilled to be a part of it. 

Holli and I are setting up for the evening and being our normal "dorky" selves. 

Everything is ready with about 45 minutes of set up time. By the way, her home was absolutely beautiful!

These ladies put out an amazing, delightful spread. I purposely took a certain path around the tables when helping them paint to pick at these delicacies; I have a cheese addiction.

We started the family trees by drawing in clumps of leaf canopies.

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Next we tape off the spaces where the family names will be placed. Once the tape is down, it is time to paint in those leaf clumps.

Some ladies planned to include siblings, some went with just there immediate family, others listed great grandparents.

This part of the project can often be an emotional journey as we think through our family history. Families take lots of turns and our heritage and lineage is not always simple or straight forward. In truth, it really doesn't matter how perfectly  symmetrical your family tree looks in art or life. When we put our trust in him, God can redeem all things in his timing.

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Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time.
​He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end. Ecc. 3:11

Once the leaf clumps and trunks are painted, we were able to peel off the masking tape and put on any finishing touches. 

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Most of the ladies will finish filling in the family names later at home using a fine tipped permanent marker.

Our beautiful hostess gave us gardenias fresh from her garden as a thank-you gift. These meant so much to me as I grew up with gardenias by my front door. The very smell of them brings me back to my own immediate family and my childhood. I had to take a little time to paint them. Thanks Yvette, this one is for you!