Wine and Design

A hot and steamy weekend for Missouri wine lovers in Excelsior Springs kicked off Friday night with a unique event called Wine and Design. Prior to the event, we devoured some BBQ at Wabash with Keith's Mom and Aunt Ruthie. Some torrential rain fell during dinner but did nothing to stifle the oppressive humidity. We had some yummy corn fritters for appetizers, then moved on to the Wabash's signature spicy meats. I had a mix of brisket and turkey bathed in that addictive Wabash BBQ sauce with tangy BBQ beans and creamy cole slaw.

We moved on to Willow Spring Mercantile which was hosting the Wine and Design shebang. The Excelsior Spring's resident art instructor Kathleen was our guide. Multiple canvases and palettes were set up at various stations throughout the store. At the center of this, Kathleen displayed a painting she had done of wine bottles and goblets and she proceeded to instruct us how to create a similar painting. As we prepared for our art lesson, we tasted an assortment of Missouri wines that Daphne featured at Willow Spring. Lubricated for creativity, we began our lesson. The idea for this exercise was to relax and let our artistic abilities flow while creating our own paintings and this worked for all of the normal humans. My neuroses took over, though, and I found the process stressful. Instead of relaxing, I pressured myself throughout and in fact, people even noticed that I was gritting my teeth while painting. It didn't help that as people strolled by to monitor our progress, they would see Keith's painting and comment, "you've had lessons, haven't you?" and then see mine and say, "well, it's coming along...". The stress was no one's issue but my own. I would do it again. In the end, Kathleen helped smooth out my rough edges and it was a fair to middlin' effort. It's a terrfic event and everyone else loved it....and in the end, so did I. For $38, you get the wine tasting, the art supplies and the finished product.

Kathleen also offers these as private events and will also host Corks and Canvases at the Excelsior Springs Museum. The Willow Springs Wine and Design events are the third Fridays of every month. Check out the event deets for Wine and Design at http://www.shopthemercantile.com/