Kicking Off Pumpkin Season

Chicoans love to work, chat, or just run into someone you haven’t seen in awhile at “The Perk”… and when they roll out their fall drinks, all the more reason to enjoy the buzz of this longtime local cafe.

With so much coziness and tastiness already flowing, it was just delightful to step in and make this pumpkin painting event a relaxing one for this group of artists. Some superb talent and some connecting time with friends.

Here’s to a whole month of fall events, thankful to these folks who helped to kick it off!

Capitola Art and Wine Festival

I knew a weekend away with these ladies would be a treat, but oh my goodness… still blown away by how wonderful it was to take in the art, sip wine, and truly bask in the warm glow of friendship.

Our Airbnb was perfection for an easy walk to the water or to meander through the maze of booths with so much inspiration and creativity tucked inside each one. We loved meeting artists, tasting new wines, and experiencing this gorgeous town.

We completed our trip with a visit to the stunning Shadowbrook restaurant and a hike at Mount Hermon. The conversation. The collaboration. The joy of time with these girls… so very thankful for all of it!

Chico Bike Lovers!

Pretty special to have each of these painters make their bicycle artwork into a masterpiece by choosing their colors, adding scrape the paint on texture, and personalizing with little details. This group was the type who probably biked to the event too! Wearing shirts from the last ride they did! Too fun to spend a Sunday afternoon with a group so committed to this lifestyle.

Quick shout out to The Commons as well! They’ve become one of my go to venues, and I love that some of their regulars are painting as often as they can… yet each party turns out a new group of artists, ready to check out this self serve wonder of a spot. Designed and run by locals, it was the perfect space for some relaxing art time with folks who are all about that Chico bike life.

Succulent Meets Sutter Buttes View

Since our first event at Cordi Winery, we’ve been waiting for the perfect season to give the wine lovers in this area the chance to paint a succulent. This August day did not disappoint! Warm on the patio, so we were replenishing paint like crazy, but so worth it to immerse this group in a little creative getaway.

The whimsy of painting while looking out at the vineyards and the Sutter Buttes in the background can’t be beat… except perhaps by the sweet company of friends and the hospitality of these winemakers. Their welcoming and special style included a little giveaway of some potted succulents from their garden and they always offer a glass of wine to Kiersten and I so we can unwind under their gorgeous willow tree after the event.

Summer is for Teacher Bonding

This exceptional group of teachers treat each other like friends… because that’s who they are! So delightful to be with these coworker besties, who spend time together even on summer break. They made these NORD signs on barn wood to celebrate the rural history of the school, all the while chatting about all the most progressive ways they are going to be helping students this year.

To make each sign unique, everyone chose their colors and a different image to stand in O’s place. Now the finished pieces can be placed all around campus, proclaiming that school pride and creativity! Nord Country School students must know they have some amazing people in their lives: eager to become artists for the afternoon and even more eager to be the best they can be as teachers.

Spend Your Break Painting

This was the fourth session for sweet students enjoying their time off from school with some Friday morning painting at Garden Villa Cafe. We’ve also painted foxes, robots, and watermelons… but these ones might be my favorite? I love seeing each artist create a flowing and unique mane, giving our unicorns names, and watching friends encourage each other.

Thankful for the Garden Villa owners, who don’t get too nervous about young artists painting in their space! They have such a calm cafe and delicious drinks for parents to enjoy while kids are painting. Some even turned it into a date with breakfast before or lunch afterwards. The menu choices here do not disappoint!

Watercolor While The Sun Sets

Growing up as a girl who loved being out on the boat at the Afterbay on a warm summer evening as the sun sets makes me feel far too romantic about painting at Live Vine Vineyards! I think they like their dreamy location though too, and the warm weather sure helps when you are working with watercolors and wanting the paint to dry to help create all of those fun layers.

This group was incredibly willing to play and explore, whether experienced with the medium or not. Six options of cacti inspiration helped to get us started, but in the end, everyone’s three piece artwork was their own combination of elements they loved or wanted to try. The other hit this evening? Wine slushies! Absolutely perfect for some July painting by the lake.

Fundraiser Success!

Practicing this barn painting had me so excited to see how all the different rustic ones would turn out at this event. These artists really showed off! Their artworks were amazingly detailed and what could be more enjoyable than painting to live music arranged by Apollo School of Music? An artsy evening on so many levels.

it was also delightful to know that all proceeds from this event will go towards the art program at a local country charter school. In October, 100 kids will get to make a painting on a canvas, thanks to participation from caring community members. So appreciate you coming out to support our musicians and schools!

Sweet Local Strawberries

Capturing the luscious look of a few strawberries close up, hanging on that dark teal background turned out to be a pretty playful and relaxing time as this group of artists embraced the reality that fruits are different sizes and shapes in nature. Each of our paintings should be unique, so we were spotting where an extra leaf or berry might fit to improve the composition or where some extra brushstrokes could make the background more interesting. So fun to create together!

Did it make this party more delightful that we had farmer’s market strawberries to snack on while we painted? I think so. Chico friends love to gather at The Commons for self serve taps… beer, wine, even hard cider or seltzer. When it’s a summer evening that includes painting and corn hole on the patio too, the idea becomes almost irresistible!

Beach Party Crew

We always have fun when there’s a painting event at Purple Line, but this crew really surpassed others in their determination to have a good time. Rightly so! Painting a pineapple in their gazebo that has the name “The Beach” proudly displayed? Sounds like a great excuse to party!

We turned on the tropical tunes, played with some chunky brushstroke techniques, and sipped that delicious local wine. The cheerful colors of this painting seemed to boost our confidence and we savored the catchy little phrase, “Be like a pineapple: sweet on the inside and wear a crown” as the perfect vibe for our creative time. Love how these turned out!

Tender Loving Coffee + Guacamole

This darling cafe started out as a food truck… and now that their location in downtown Chico is so bustling that we had to carefully arrange our painting tables for traffic flow, they’re still just as warm and full of hometown spirit as ever. The owner whipped up a couple menu specials for our time, because who doesn’t love specialty guacamole or some gourmet avocado toast?

To make this event even more fun, we got to set up the splatter box: plop your painting in there and flick that paint on for some surprise texture that really made our canvases come to life. Thank you Tender Loving Coffee for hosting this fantastic fundraiser for The Chico Women’s Club! Happy to be a part of helping them get solar panels and be greener than ever.

Patriotic Painters

Quick to sell out and pleasant to teach, this patriotic star is probably going to be an annual event, and hopefully always with the perfection of this atmosphere. It was warm at the start because that’s just classic Butte County, but we timed it to wrap up around sunset and the view was marvelous.

Live Vine overlooks The Afterbay, where water from Lake Oroville gets to warm up for irrigation. Skiiers, wakeboarders and fisherman take advantage of this lake… so why not artists too? We worked our way through the painting steps for this fun canvas, with plenty of space to take in the view and chat with friends. Some of the guests even dressed up in red, white, and blue to add to their experience. What a blast to spend the evening with this crew!

Personalized Chico Watercolor

Chico is a special place for me and for so many others who have called this city home for a long time. At this event, we got to choose six places of significance, and paint each block with colors and details that are reminiscent of those places. Then that central heart gives the eye a place to land amidst the airy watercolors and also provides a spot to add some flowing script. What hometown would you write in?

Dreaming up this event, I knew I would have some participants from Durham, Oroville, Paradise… and I loved getting to see their artworks. These areas have been a part of my growing up experience here too! The cities and towns that surround Chico have a connected nature that was so very evident in the conversations that arose as different artists chatted about their places of significance and their hometown memories. Gathering at Bidwell Perk was the perfect way to enjoy some pleasant friend time and open ended painting. Already looking forward to their fall event!

Founder's Beer Tasting Fun

I had no idea how much fun was in store when this Founder’s Brewery Paint and Taste night got booked! On a warm Friday night, with a custom painting of a bottle of their famous Kentucky Breakfast Stout and an expert from Founder’s there to talk to us about each tasting, there was a lot of good energy to set the tone for a lively event at New Earth Market.

This crew of beer fans took the painting challenges in stride… glass isn’t the easiest to paint! They also made sure to educate me about beer: the ones being poured and the ones in their extensive collections at home. I still have a lot to learn, but what a great way to engage with some folks who are all about their brews and all about their quality time with friends. They’re something special!

California Poppies for my Birthday!

When this cheery California poppies party fell on the day before my birthday, I couldn’t resist the chance to celebrate with a painting crew. Especially since it was at The Commons, one of my regular event spaces that has come to feel like a consistent piece of the Sienna Joy experience. This packed out party was no exception, and I think the guests all thought the addition of a lemon raspberry cake from Upper Crust bakery was a sweet way to be a part of my special day.

As if the fun time painting that ocean water, rocky shore, and bright field wasn’t enough, a handful of friends surprised me by popping in at the end. They made clean up a breeze and helped me enjoy my slice of cake. I actually sat down! That in and of itself is a marvel at an event… so blessed to celebrate with people who love art time and friends who know me well!

Painting Event Teammates

We always try to capture an event with photos of artists intent on their work, snapshots of guests relaxing with friends, or that group picture to finish off our painting time. Each time, I get to look back on what these girls saw and experienced while I was teaching, but rarely do I get them in a picture!

So clearly this is a photograph worth treasuring… we were all together, amazingly in one spot, living the moment! Okay, we were probably sweaty from working the event, but that’s part of it, and who wouldn’t love having friends who bust a move to set up easels, tote paint, and chat with guests in ways that help encourage them in their art moments? My big Sienna Joy events have their own flair because of the hard work of these ladies and I couldn’t be more thankful for them!

Alpha Gam Girls and Moms

I knew when Taylor called me and we started dreaming up this event that it would be wonderful, but it still blew me away to walk around Gale Vineyards helping to guide over one hundred fifty painters enjoying their art time. Moms and daughters were there for each other, wanting to make the most of their weekend visit and join in the painting fun even with the afternoon being extra warm.

These Alpha Gam girls wanted to paint red and buff colored roses, in honor of the sorority’s signature flower and colors, and why not… they are full of spirit through and through! With a wide range of artistic backgrounds represented, it was fun to see how my original painting inspired so many unique pieces that afternoon. As they finished, girls and moms got to pose for a picture with their canvases in hand… now they have an artwork and a photo for recalling the memory of a sweet time painting as part of their special weekend together.

Already looking forward to next year!

Thank you Bidwell Perk!

Our third and final Butte Strong paint and sip was nothing short of amazing. I’m blessed to be a part of getting friends like these together in a warm and loving atmosphere, to enjoy a drink, paint for a bit, and just support each other in the healing process following such trauma. They’ve been incredibly appreciative, and it just fills me up to watch them savor an evening out, doing something creative but simple enough to feel relaxing.

We’ve had a whole mixture of attendees… from those who lost their homes and got to paint for free to those who have friends and family who were forced to move away, but will treasure a canvas made and shipped to them with love. At each event, the friendly staff of Bidwell Perk has graciously allowed us to take over for the evening. This extends their work hours quite a lot, but hopefully fills their hearts too… with the joy of a connection with community members who are so deserving of a special paint night and some tasty food to top it off!

Riding with Spring Flowers

When I tell my elementary students to “roll with it” I’m not usually picturing a bicycle with a basket full of flowers, but I think that this event was the perfect chance to channel that phrase into the flow of our painting session. The barrel room was quite full of ladies who were eager to trace a bike stencil and dab on paint into perfectly shaped roses. But how fun is painting if perfection is the goal?

Instead we found every bushel of flowers to be uniquely shaped and lovely in its own way. Each artist wound up choosing the brushstrokes, the colors to emphasize, and the arrangement of leaves in the mix. With encouragement from me and Kiersten, I sincerely hope that they embraced the experience of creating a one of a kind painting. The results were stunning!

Ladies Retreat Painting and Prayer

This is becoming a very fun tradition! Including a painting session at the ladies retreat hosted by Evangelical Free Church at Woodleaf Camp is right up my alley. So many of these women go to different churches, read different kind of books, and have different art backgrounds, but when we all come together to spend some time in the woods, the community built and the love for God that flows is simply wonderful!

This time we had some reflective prayer as a component of the painting session, allowing the up and down strokes of the branch to remind us of some piece of the journey God has placed before us. The colors of the leaves took on significance too and as each canvas turned out unique, each woman’s story was celebrated in a special and honoring way. Whether she chose to share the thoughts that were directing her painting or just stay in a prayerful posture of heart, each woman here made the most of this opportunity and the time together was deeply infused with that love and connection.