Joesph Beuys once said that, “there is an artist in all of us.” To those who want to explore that, you can do so thanks to businesses such as Paint Nite. You go onto their website, choose your location, select the painting that interests you, and sign up for that event. It sounds simple, yes? It turns out that it is if you have anywhere between $45-$60 worth to spend on a class. When you look at the costs for some secondary school classes (which are for the most part excellent) that is a pretty good deal. But this is how you can be an artist and not break the bank. This is just what we did.
Down at the Two Rivers Distillery is an event that brings your inner artist out to play. Or at least your inner child with the added bonus of in-house drinks being at your disposal. Tonight, the woman who is teaching us is Lori Ryan who is the resident artist/teacher. She is going to teach us how to paint a beautiful sunset landscape with islands and a large body of water that surrounds them. A mixture of the vibrant colours of the sky and the dark shadows of the land is present on this landscape portrait.
Before we start, we have to spread water on our canvas with our brush which we are told makes it easier to blend paints like you would do for a sky and water scene. A good thing for a new painter to learn. We start from the top and work our way down with the paints. We go for a mixture of light blue for the sky and bring it down half way to the center. There we paint a white line as a small separation and go nuts with other colours of paints for the bright contrast of a sunset. We turn our canvas and make a dark blue line where we separate the sky from the water down the center. Now we begin to colour the bottom in different colours to create an interesting effect. Our teacher tells us that the key is to be random when it comes to these kinds of pictures.
After much random experimentation, some focus, and a whimsical sense of adventure, we get our entire background down and have to step away for 15 minutes to let it dry. We also want to get one of those lovely drinks that they have. Their cocktail which contains their rhubarb infused gin comes highly recommended. After a little socializing, it is time to get back to our masterpieces.
We prepare to create dark clouds and landmasses on our canvas. We hope to not only make it look like something but have fun along the way. That’s why we chose to crack jokes and figure out which one of us is going to be the next award-winning artist. It turns out that there is no favourite but our spirits are brighter than ever.
A good time for fun and a little creativity is always a good idea when you get to share it with some friends. The cocktails sure help but the full credit goes to local artist, Lori who took the time to teach us and the other good sports who chose to spend the evening painting. Thank you, Paint Nite, Two Rivers Distillery, and Yaymaker for making a fun evening happen. What’s next? A new art community perhaps?
Comentários