Sometimes a little serendipity is what you need...

A "paint and sip" party. An unexpected opportunity. A pushy friend. What more could you need (well, maybe determination) to turn your personal art "therapy" into a roaring success? Meet Brenda Cline.

Brenda Cline and Jackie Taylor went to school together from 7th grade on.  They were friends throughout their school years.  Although they saw each other only a few times since graduation 43 years ago they kept up their friendship on Facebook. 
 
Brenda never thought about painting until she went to a wine and canvas party at her girlfriend Lori's house in the fall of 2017. She ended up teaching herself to paint and then posted paintings every week that she did for her family and friends. Jackie told her how talented she was.  When the Cass County Regional Gallery exhibit (managed by volunteers from Cass Area Artists) was being advertised Jackie gently pushed Brenda to bring in a painting for the show.  When the gentle pushing didn’t work Jackie did some heavy duty pushing!  Brenda was concerned that her work might not be good enough and that the only reason family and friends said that it was good work was because they loved her. How many of us have harbored those very same thoughts about our work?
 
Jackie finally convinced Brenda to bring a couple of paintings to her office and she would pick one for her to submit for the art exhibit.  She brought in 5 or 6 paintings and Jackie asked some of her coworkers to come and take a peek.  The coworkers “jury” was thrilled with her paintings!!! The one that Brenda picked to submit was the first one in the exhibit that sold!!!! 

Since that time Brenda has gotten more confident and Jackie is still pushing her to take her new “business” seriously. She suggested making business cards, creating a name and logo for her business, and signs. Brenda did all that!! She has been to several shows now at farmers markets, has gotten special requests from friends, family and strangers alike, and her confidence is booming.  Jackie also encouraged her to work on a website and now she is doing that.  She is beyond excited at the turn her life has taken with painting. 

Brenda and Jackie agree that it was God’s timing that brought them back together. Jackie saw the talent Brenda had and also understood her insecurity of stepping out of her comfort zone because Jackie had been insecure like that her whole life. Just goes to prove that even at 59 years old you are never too old to help a friend realize their potential and that friend is never too old to start a new career!!

While this article was being prepared, Jackie asked Brenda how sales had been going. In the time since the gallery exhibit closed prematurely last spring (due to Covid), Brenda has sold 52 paintings!!!! And at a farmers market this summer she had a little boy who wanted to buy one of her paintings but he didn't have enough money so he said he was going to find some odd jobs to do and he would be back at some point to buy a painting. That was special!  We'll be waiting to see more of her work when her website is completed.

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