The Wonderful Word for this Wednesday is ‘Magical’
Recently, I had the opportunity to take a watercolor class from Sarah Simon, otherwise known as The Mint Gardener. I’ve followed Sarah for a long time and when this opportunity came up I jumped on it and invited a friend, who struggles to find time for self care as well, to join me. She said ‘YES!”, and we bought our tickets.
The day finally came, and I’m here to tell you… from the setting, to the other patrons, to the food and beverages, and to the delightful Sarah Simon, it was ….gosh….I’m having a hard time putting it into words…..it was, well, MAGICAL!
Magical Wine
My friend and I hung up our ‘mom’ titles, turned our phones off, and entered Sarah’s in-laws’ front door. It was such an intimate setting, we felt like part of the family! We drank wine poured by the actual vintners from Italy (label designed by their daughter, a student of Sarah’s), and ate appetizers prepared by Sarah’s in-laws as it was their lake house where we were painting that night.
The Vintners are Bryan & Amy Williams of Sant’ Angelus Wines. Here’s a delightful pic of them both and the then of course, THE WINE.
Magical Swag
After getting a glass of wine, we sat down at one of the tables on the deck with our new friends under strings of twinkle lights, and looked through our swag. Watercolors, books, and brushes – OH MY! I could not believe that this entire set of professional grade watercolors were mine to take home!
Turns out, the owner of the watercolor company was there in person. He had driven 25 hours to deliver the handmade watercolors to Sarah’s guests, as they weren’t going to get there on time if shipped. From him we learned of his process and several tidbits of watercolor trivia that I cannot for the life of me recall at this moment. Meanwhile, the paints are luscious and the set includes unique colors found nowhere else.
Check out this company’s website, stonegroundpaint.com , it’s beautiful! I highly recommend going to the ‘shop’ tab and then choosing ‘watercolor’ and then just enjoying the beautiful flat lays they’ve put together for each color. Here he is with his lovely daughter:
Magical Moments
The magic of the evening was due to the beautiful setting, the hosts and Sarah herself being so welcoming and lovely, and having these amazing connections with the watercolor guy and the vintners, not to mention doing something I love with a friend!
Take a look at some of the magical scenes:
So. I would HIGHLY recommend you get connected with Sarah on Instagram or just check out her website. She is an absolute gem and I couldn’t agree more with her philosophy about making the skill of watercolor accessible to all.
Have you had a magical experience in recent times? Please tell me about it!
Kimberly Snider, Virtuoso, Signing off
Photo credit goes to Mark Mandi
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