20x30 l Oil on Canvas

Week 1

This year for Valentine's Day, Laert told me not to make any plans. We started with the usual suspects, nice restaurant, good conversation, a beautiful walk through downtown holding hands and then he took me to the gallery. I didn't know if he needed to pick something up from work or if he had hidden something there.... (Chocolate?....something sparkly??). Taking me inside, he told me we were going to paint. That may not seem strange since we are you know, we're 2 artists ... but I hadn't really painted in the last two years since our baby girl came into the picture. He said not only are we going to paint but that we'd finish a painting in less than two hours so even as a full time mom, I would never have an excuse to not paint again. I was skeptical since our paintings usually are several month long projects. But I was also open because I wanted to try the rapid and free pieces that I know many Masters have done. We chose this Silhouette because of her simplistic beauty, the colors and the fun technical ideas that we had in mind. As we were painting we got more and more excited. I felt like I was emerging from a daze and becoming more alive again. 

When we finished after an hour, it felt like no time had passed. Both of us were so excited Laert exclaimed, we are going to do one painting a week for the next year and none of them will be over two hours long! Hesitantly, I agreed, not so much because I didn't want to but the sheer magnitude of the task and commitment to it was a bit intimidating. But oh, how I craved it. And to be able to do this with my husband - to connect with him and share something with him that I never have been able to share with anyone - ever. So yes, let's do this. 

Being husband and wife, we decided the only appropriate name was what all parents do when baby finally hits the hay.  52 weeks, 52 Quickies. Once a week after our little goes to sleep, Laert and I will paint together limiting ourselves to 2 hours maximum to complete a painting . Wish us luck!