An At Home 'Paint & Wine' Evening

Last night (not evening) Diksha and I did a Paint & Wine evening at home.

It turned out such an interesting experience.

The last time I painted, which was my first time too, was at the "paint & wine' with Sujata. And fully inspired by her being with me, I'd bought all the paraphernalia for painting, including an easel, all of which had sat untouched since then (since August)

And now suddenly we decided we'll do a painting. And I was nervous, excited too, but also nervous.

And it was so interesting to see how Diksha just took the lead. I heard "ma, just have fun ma, don't worry about how it's turning out, or about making mistakes" "It's your first, focus on painting, not on the painting, it's not about whether it's good enough" "It's okay if it's not good enough for your wall"

Every half hour she'd come and check, and say encouraging things to make me go on. I saw a complete role reversal, I became the child, looking forward to her little words of encouragement and she the adult, taking it upon herself to see that I relaxed and connected into the process.

At one point, I was like " ayyo, this dabba doesn't have purple, I want purple flowers" and I hear "mix red and blue ma, and white to lighten to the purple you want". How had I forgotten, all those sundays, many many years ago, which I'd devoted to only having them play with colors....tubes and tubes used just to see what combinations gave what colors. Wonderfully nostalgic.

And the final one, "deech, I'm so hopeless at this, not getting my flowers right" and she's like " there's no right ma, it's abstract, and it's yours".

I was getting back my lessons in life. Maybe I'd forgotten and she'd imbibed, and this was a lovely way to relearn.

Diksha engrossed

My messy corner

The output. Diksha's is the graceful and elegant one on the right, and the pretty one (you have to look through my eyes:) on the left is mine. As amateur as mine is, they both went up on my wall.....to mark an evening so bonded and beautiful.

Thanks Deech, for the idea, the thought, the process and above all for 'showing up' in that moment. An evening that will stay cherished.