Ne-Yo's Painting Passion

So as I was writing the other day, I was at the Nikki Beach club in Cannes. Picture a giant white tent erected on the beach. One side of the tent was open with large beige wicker sofas with plump white cushions scattered beneath the stars. In the covered part of the tent, a floor had been erected, on which a dining room, bar, DJ turntables stood. The color palette was white and sand.

A girl perched herself on the back of our sofa and a bunch of people started asking to take pictures with a guy in a hat. I asked her who he was and she said “Ne-Yo”. I knew he was a singer, so I jumped into action with my camera. I knew this was the first celebrity sighting and I had promised my Extremely Crafty Chums to get the low down.

“So what sort of crafts or hobbies are you interested in?” I asked.

If you guessed, knitting or macramé, you’re wrong. If you guessed painting, you’re right.

Ne-Yo loves to paint and has been painting ever since he’s been singing. He is very passionate about it and likes to paint all subjects. No favourites here. He uses all colors and he’s painted pictures of all sizes – some really big canvases. He hasn’t had a show yet. He’s not sure if his work is really ready for that, but he would love to show his work one day.

I should have said that he could launch his creative pursuits with Extremely Crafty, but I only thought about that now. What a great exclusive. ACK! I missed out on that one. I shall remember that for next time.
About an hour later, my friends and I went to the Nikki Beach Night Club. This one was part of the Palais where they have the red carpet premieres and not on the beach. Here again was Ne-Yo and his group, including the girl who I spoke with. Turns out she’s the girlfriend. How embarrassing asking her who Ne-Yo was and it was her boyfriend. Ne-Yo performed his hit song and was about ten feet away from me. He really is a brilliant singer. He seemed like a totally cool, laid back guy who took the time to speak to myself and other fans. His girlfriend was also really cool and we waved like old friends of an hour previous. When he left the club, Ne-Yo said “Hey” and patted me on the back.

Have any of you had any experiences with either really friendly or really not so friendly celebrities?

Up tomorrow – Crafty in Cannes! I discovered a Parisian men’s clothes designer who embroiders and paints dress shirts. Pictures of his work.