Emerson said something ingenious, that ”Every artist was once an amateur.”

Ya know, Ralphie, I think you may be onto something there. I started this business, seriously wondering if I would ever be able to make it work. The more I’ve done, the more I’ve flourished. And that’s not to brag, I’m just really surprised at what I’ve been hiding from myself for so long…

My dear friend is the owner of this company called QBHome Paint and Sip Studio and I’ve been working with her for almost a year now. I usually do the desserts for her paint sessions and always wanted to try my hand at doing one of the paintings, but I didn’t think I could do it. It’s not one of those paint-by-numbers sort of deals, and you actually have to put the pencil to the canvas before you can begin to paint.

I think this is where the “sip” comes in because it helps when your pencil, paintbrush, and inhibitions flow…away.

Quo is an art teacher by trade and an art teacher by talent. The hubby and I finally got to take a class from her, completing the “Memphis” themed painting that I’d been wanting to do for a year. I was nervous about how it would turn out, but one thing Quo emphasizes and reassures her clients about is that the painting is all their own.

I knew that it was a Memphis-themed painting, so I wanted to make it express what Memphis means to me. So I made the painting all “our” own…welcome to our city!

1. It’s our “Memphus”

The hubby and I are both transplants to the city. My family moved here in 1993 to help take care of my grandfather after grandma passed away. I never wanted to be here. I don’t like big cities. I don’t like lots of people. There is too much bad and not enough good here. He never wanted to be here either. He had a worse experience with the city than I did.

We both ended up on a social networking site, looking to meet new people because, if we had to be here, we might as well meet someone to make it fun. He liked my outfit. I liked his style. Suddenly Memphis wasn’t looking all that bad! We learned that no place is perfect and every place is what you make it. We made Memphis look good to each other and we were each others’ “home;” I have yet to find another city where I’d rather live and we certainly travel a lot. With everything that is this city, the good and the bad, it is the place that has made us who we are and is helping to mold us into the people we aspire to be. We put a lot of time, effort, and money into supporting this city and the economy…because the city is truly what we make it.

Meeting each other turned out to be a divine intercession. The colors of the arrow were the colors of our wedding. He picked them out.

2.”Who you be? SOUF G!”

A big part of our time and identity is who we are as Christians. We are members of the South Germantown Road Church of Christ. We are both youth counselors, he’s (we are) the Young Adult minister, as well as the Audio/Technical/Social Media guy, I’m a teacher of any given group of children/young ladies, and have somehow found my way into being co-leader of the Married Women’s Ministry, in addition to various other committees that pop up. The kids started calling the congregation “Souf G” when we traveled to various youth events and it’s stuck with the counselors.

Just writing all of that down, I’m not entirely sure why we haven’t turned a room into an apartment at the building. Souf G indeed…

3. You don’t want none.

One day I was driving past a taekwondo school and swerved into the parking lot. 15 min later, I was a student. That was almost 11 years ago. My mom followed me in a few months later. Then after we’d been dating a while, the Mr. decided it was be something cool to try. So now, we’re at this school…Midtown ATA. The instructors here are like my moms. I have a lot of them actually. Pretty much, if you feed me, I’ll never go away. Kinda like a stray cat. Anyway, my school is awesome and I’m there molding young minds and trying not to get my head handed to me by really flexible pre-teens with fast recovery times. It’s the best in the city, with instructors who care about each other and our students. Come by and see us sometime!

4. We’re so Hollywood.

We get fancy on date nights. We met online and our first date was my choice of restaurant, so of course I picked Olive Garden. Italian is my favorite food on the planet, with garlic bread being the top of the list. We got there and it was crowded so we strolled across the parking lot to McAlister’s Deli. We ordered our food and he went to pay. He’d left his wallet in the car. I offered to pay so that we wouldn’t have to wait and hold up the line. He later told me that he felt bad and thought he’d never see me again. I told him that he’d see me at least one more time because he owed me a meal. In our own ways, we still don’t let each other forget it We actually went to a McAlister’s to do part of our engagement photo session with Crystal Chick Photography!

One of our favorite past times is watching movies. We have the Malco app on both of our phones, so at any given time, we can see what our viewing pleasure options are. I also have the IMDB app on my phone so that I can check out any trailer that is mentioned at any given moment. If it’s a real thing, I’m thinking we might actually be hardcore couch potatoes…

5. Grit and Grind

Our hometown team is the Memphis Grizzlies. I love them. They’re even better people off the court, giving back to the community in every way possible. It’s kind of gotten to the point that you expect great things from them and it’s not a surprise when they do something incredibly awesome and charitable. And that’s not a bad thing, because that is the character they possess. We still smile and our hearts get a little bigger, but now it’s like “eh, those men are so stellar, so I wouldn’t expect anything less…” in the amazing way they are.

I grew up loving the Chicago Bulls and the hubby did too, as that’s where he was raised. So once a year, we wear our Chicago Bulls gear and brave our way down to the FedEx Forum to cheer against the Grizzlies… *gasp* Our favorite (and funniest) game time memory was in January of 2012. We went down to support the Bulls, had floor seats, were all decked out in red and black; we’d even gone shopping for hats just for this game. So the game starts, the team gets 6 points out of the gate. I’m cheering and clapping and the hubby is quiet. I’m decked out in Bulls gear and cheering every time the Grizzlies make a point. We lost that game too (Bulls), but we won (Grizzlies)! The ticket sales people still remember me as the Bulls/Grizzlies girl. I was honestly just excited to be there…

But this is the part of my painting that I’m most proud of. I decided that I wanted to paint Grizz, mostly because I needed to fill in some space, so I went for it. To say that I was intimidated, doesn’t begin to describe. But my art teacher encouraged me. RWE basically said that you have to start somewhere. I figured if it didn’t turn out well, I just wouldn’t show anyone. I was so shocked at myself that I sat there for 10 minutes just looking at it, astonished that this actually flowed from me. Even I just kept saying “wow…that is so cool…”

And it wasn’t the sip, I was having water that night lol

I told the hubby I painted a sun just because he’s the sunshine in my life. He just rolled his eyes at me and laughed.

And I’m not bragging, just hoping sharing a bit of encouragement. There are typically many things that we want to do in life and they can sometimes be incredibly intimidating. Sometimes you will fail before you succeed, but you will never know until you try. You are filled with infinite potential and an innate gift to be able to make this world a better place. No matter where you are physically, mentally, spiritually, or emotionally, your state of existence is what you make (of) it.

And if you’re interested in making some art, head over to QBHome’s Paint and Sip Studio. She’s opened a brand new location at 206 E GE Patterson and you can see the schedule and register for classes here. If you’re in or around Memphis, that’s downtown in the arts district and the zip code is 38103. I hope to see you there real soon!