Painting parties. You know what I’m talking about.
You’ve seen them all over your Facebook feed. Groups of ladies possibly sloshed on wine, gleefully posing in that standard school picture formation (two rows, one standing, one kneeling), holding their version of the same painting.
These parties are all the rage around here. They’re blowing up my Facebook newsfeed and I’ve heard rumors that in bigger cities, they’re so popular that they have waiting lists. When a North Iowa Blogger offered us an opportunity to join a painting party, I knew I had to experience it.
Crafts and painting projects typically aren’t my thing. I’m impatient when it comes to making things that aren’t food and I like to create things I can eat. However, I do like to spend time with my friends and try new experiences. Pus, I had a jolly time at the wreath-making class even though I couldn’t eat my wreath. It’s still hanging on my front door and makes me happy every time I see it.
This particular painting party occurred at Country Heritage Bed & Breakfast in Hampton, Iowa. The company Creative Spirits of Ames, Iowa facilitated the class. Beforehand, our blogger group browsed through their gallery of paintings and voted on recreating a farmhouse on the prairie.
We arrived at the bed and breakfast and found it transformed into an art studio. After we chose a spot with an easel, we paid our $35 admission and the Creative Spirits staff outfitted us with an apron and a paper plate pallet dotted with squirts of paint.
I felt a little apprehensive while I waited for the artist to begin. I remember sending out a tweet that said, “Help, I’m at one of those painting parties and I don’t know how to paint and I don’t have any wine.”
With my limited art skills, I wondered if I could actually create a painting that resembled a real object. Would I spend $35 and end up with a blob? Barn or blob, barn or blob, I wondered. And about that wine. . . seriously, where was it!? It could either help or hurt my painting abilities. Bottles of Iowan fruit wine were available by the bottle, so we shared.
Time to begin. Our artist guided us through two versions of the barn painting one small step at a time. For example, her first instruction was to draw the horizon line with a medium brush dipped in green paint mixed with a little bit of black. Then, she walked us through painting the outline of the barn.
For a moment I got behind. I considered tossing in the towel and painting a giant smiley face. The thought of revealing a smiley face at the end of class cracked me up, but then I remembered I paid $35 and did my best to catch up.
By the time we began painting the prairie, I had sipped half a glass of blackberry wine and felt slightly footloose and fancy free. “Have a flappy wrist” the artist suggested as she demonstrated how to draw big green X’s.
Already there.
In the end, my little prairie farmhouse did, in fact, look like a little prairie farmhouse. Totally not a blob. Donna and I took a sister photo with our finished paintings. Someone once thought we were sisters so now we roll with it.
Concluding Thoughts:
From start to finish, we painted for about two hours.
I produced artwork that resembles an actual “thing” and hope this encourages even the most hesitant of painters. The artist walked through the two versions of the painting slowly enough that everyone in our group really did create pieces that looked close enough to the example. Of course, our paintings varied and some added their own flair such as wind turbines and tractors. My barn looked like a barn, so there was no way I was attempting a wind turbine without step-by-step instructions.
The $35 price seems fair. The Creative Spirits team sets up all of the easels and makes sure that everyone has what they need like refills of paint or fresh cups of water to rinse off paint brushes. Country Heritage provided a relaxing location, beverages, and snacks. Because of liquor license laws, the B&B could only sell wine by the bottle rather than glass, but each bottle was about $12 making it an affordable share. If you attend a class at one of their locations, you can BYOB. They’ll also travel offsite if a big enough group RSVP’s.
Participating in this class taught me that I’m in the company of perfectionists which made me feel less neurotic. Because I struggled with wanting to make each feature perfect, I can’t say this experience was relaxing, but it sure was fun. Obviously, a glass of wine helped with that whole perfectionism thing.
Have you ever taken one of these group painting & wine parties? What was it like and what did you paint?
