This Wednesday January 14th, 2015 from 9pm to midnight (or later) at Akbar, it’s CRAFTNIGHT! [Santa Anas Edition] 
Project: Abstract Paint-by-Number Panels
$3 processing fee, please
$4 Drink special: Ginger Beer and Whiskey! The Lyla – Unleash the Queen. 

This week’s project is a celebrated CraftNight classic. Paint-by-number projects are divided up into small panels, bottles of numbered paint that don’t correspond to the packaged paint-by-number paint order, and voila: you will make your very own abstract painting. You are given little blue numbered borders on these chip board paint-by-numbers, and contrary to the instructions, you are encouraged to do what you like with the borders. This project is CraftNight’s medication on creative limits.

I see people wrestling with creative limits all the time at CraftNight. I’ve heard such declarations:

• Crafts aren’t practical
• Art is only for experts or crazy people
• Making things is hard
• Nobody wants to talk to me
• Leisure time is useless
• My craft will look like a baby made it

These limits are as true or false as you wish to experience them.
Maybe what you make at CraftNight will look like a baby made it… is that so bad?
Every human builds a tiny “self-imposed captivity” for their sanity based on existing in the uncontainable size of the world and the even more endless reach of outer space.
Self-imposed limits can keep you from licking the elbow of a stranger in the checkstand at the grocery store, not bad!
But sometimes, limits can get fixed or extreme, causing us to curl inward, forgetting to be spontaneous, helpful, and kind. The latter form of extreme limitations means you stop calling old friends because it “takes too long”, or you don’t look at the sunset because it’s a “waste of time.”

That’s why there will be no paint-by-number police at CraftNight this Wednesday. Ignore the lines, the numbers, the sequence of colors, GO FOR IT! As you careen out of control or merely color in the borders of each outlined mini canvas, enjoy the liberation of unbridled expression and exploration. Some limits are great, some are hogwash, the thing is to inspect your limits regularly and do maintenance according to your life. Regular check-ins on your personal limitations can help avoid stagnant restrictions on your psyche as well as “boring and crotchety” syndrome.

See you at the Craft Table,

JP Craft Captain

*** UPCOMING JANUARY 7th at AKBAR ***
BET YER BOTTOM BINGO
8pm to 10pm
50 Cents a Card
Girls, Boys, Balls, Numbers, PRIZES!!!