There’s an Artist in all of Us-Painting with a Twist

Can I share a secret with you?  I know it won’t be much of a secret after this, but I feel like I need to say this before I tell you about my latest venture.  Ok, so here it is, I suck at art.  I can’t paint, draw or even decorate.  Seriously, my stick figures are almost unrecognizable. I can’t figure out spatial relationships and choosing colors, well just forget it.  I am not color blind but I guess I missed the class on what colors you mix to get other colors. For example, yellow and blue make green (that’s the only one I know).

So, I was a little apprehensive when I signed up for the Painting with a Twist class. My friend Sharon called me and told me that our neighborhood had scheduled a Painting with a Twist party.  She said that we should sign up with a few of our other neighbors. I have seen some of my friends proudly display their creations on Facebook from parties like this and thought, there is absolutely no way I could ever get mine to even come close.  Art for me has never been fun, ever. And now, I have to show my terrible painting to my neighbors, who are nice but will surely look at me differently post-class.  So, with a smile, I told Sharon, sure let’s do it, it sounds like fun (I wonder if she could tell I was lying?).   I knew that Painting with a Twist allows alcoholic beverages at their painting parties, so a bit of liquid courage could be helpful in a stressful situation like this.

The dreaded afternoon arrived this past Friday.  In our craft room, the tables were set up with each person having an easel, paint brushes and paint.  The room was filled with music and right next to me sat my friend Sharon and a nice bottle of chilled wine. So far, so good. The instructor was in front of the room with a painted picture of what we were going to make. She began the brief introduction on the paints, and how the next 2 hours was going to work. I was nervous, to say the least.  But the instructor was fun and made us all laugh.

And then we began to paint. There was a brief moment of anxiety when my first brush stroke hit the empty, white canvas.  But once class began, I started to relax.  The painting instructor walks you through every step of what to paint next, and yes she even helps you mix the paints to get different colors.  We took little breaks while she built up our confidence by praise.  She came around and helped when needed and fixed issues that we all had.  The time flew by so quickly that I actually didn’t want it to end.

I painted a fairly decent picture, to my surprise.  In fact, everyone’s painting was good. Painting with a Twist describes the party as “fun art, not fine art”.  That captures the experience perfectly!  Not only was the afternoon fun, but it was in a way therapeutic. A little time spent taking your mind off of work while creating something in a relaxed environment with friends was a great way to start off the weekend.  Of course, a good bottle of wine doesn’t hurt either!

If you haven’t tried Painting with a Twist, you should consider getting a few friends together and plan a party. They have on-site parties as well. If you are like me and have no skills, don’t worry, Painting with a Twist will pull that artist out in you.  

For more information on Painting with a Twist, here’s their website www.paintingwithatwist.com  They have several locations in the Bradenton/Sarasota area.   

Photos courtesy of Painting with a Twist website.