Your Goodwill Ambassador to February

My birthday sister Niecy Nash (far right) in "Reno 911! Miami."

 I was having a hard time figuring out what to paint during the 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge in February. I like to plan it out so that I’m not wasting time scratching my head every day staring at a blank canvas. I’ve been wanting to do some more skyline paintings, but I was coming up short with reference photos, and the weather wasn’t giving me what I wanted either.
 
Then--
 
I saw a soup commercial that said something like, “What’s the best thing about January? It’s not February.” Gasp! Not cool. I started making a mental list that turned into an actual list of all the awesomeness (some local) that happens in February. The list grew, and suddenly I had a theme for my paintings. I present February’s Best:

1. Super Bowl—right off the bat.
2. Olympics. That kicks every other month’s butt this year.
3. Fat Tuesday. Sanctioned debauchery.
4. Valentine’s Day. You can enjoy it ironically, sincerely, or just eat the chocolate.
5. President’s Day. Day off? Score.
6. Chinese New Year. Surprise someone you like with a red envelope of lucky money, and go out for dinner. Were you born in a dog year? Double luckiness!
7. Spring training. This is more uplifting than seeing the first little flower buds poke out of the ground.
8. My birthday. Also my husband’s birthday. So much cake!
9. The Oscars (usually). This year it’s March 4 presumably because of the Olympics, so we can’t be mad.
10. The best bad movies. Hollywood releases all the movies it knows won’t be contenders for the Oscars. One year I saw—on my actual birthday--Reno 911! Miami. (Side note: Star Niecy Nash and I have the same birthday.) This year we can look forward to Game Night opening on my birthday! Think of me when you go see it.
11. Chicago Auto Show. The nation’s largest auto show! Fast cars and pretty girls!
12. Orchid Show at the Chicago Botanic Garden. So freakin’ tropical and colorful.
13. Free admission to the AIC for Illinois residents. Places in cold cities dream up all kinds of reasons to lure people through their doors.

 
Happy February, everyone! Look for my daily-ish paintings on my Instagram feed after I get over the flu. No, my February is not off to a great start. Thank goodness there's so much to look forward to.