Monday 18 May 2009

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.

8 comments:

Karen Lee said...

Looks like you had a great time!

I've left something for you over on my blog!

hugs, Karen Lee

Anonymous said...

I envy you meeting Ne-Yo I think he is so great,did you know M&M is having a show tomorrow here in Detroit for his new CD.

RockerJewlz said...

Ne-yo is quite suave when he's performing in those great hats & suits, that's for sure!

Once, while living in the San Fernando valley of Los Angeles, my husband and I took a slow stroll along a main artery, Ventura Blvd, where there are lots of shops.

From way down the sidewalk a couple doing the same thing was heading towards us. As they got closer, I recognized the man as the actor Hector Elizondo....from Chicago Hope and also as the wonderful concierge in "Pretty Woman".

Without being obvious I whispered who he was to my husband and as we passed, "Hector" smiled and nodded his head.

It was cool to be that close to a star....we soon ran out of interesting shops so we turned around to head back....and, surprise surprise, Hector and his lady had done the same thing so we got 2 nods out of him.

That's as close as it ever got for me. All other celebrity encounters were from a distance...Sally Field picking up her sons in an airport...Tom Poston eating in a burger shop...Kris Kristofferson and his wife in line for "the jungle ride" at Disneyland and oh! Ron Howard at the wheel of a car next to us at a stop light and he was yelling at his wife! Didn't hear what the fight was about. LOL.

So enjoyed your story!

Nancy McCarroll said...

Can't wait to see pictures of the shirts!

Unknown said...

Painting on shirts! Can't wait to see that! As for being embarrassed that you didn't know Ne-Yo...you cna't know everybody! I personally would have had no clue. But I'm out of touch like that...:)

Aunty Sue said...

oh you lucky thing would love to have met him. Nearest i came was to meeting david cassidy all thouse years ago. My dad had lined it up for me to go back stage and meet him. Guess what i chicken out well i was only 15.
Thanks for popping by my blog and your lovely comments

Unknown said...

OMG i love your blogland and i've totally got to tell my mum about your blogland and that u met ne-yo
she absolutley loves ne-yo.
love your pic to looks like u had fun.
hugs livi x

debra said...

OMG you lucky lucky lady i love him
think hes gorgeous and a great singer wish i was you then.
hugs Debra