This is Me Being a Total Art Snob about Painting Parties (which I will now be teaching)

I’ll admit it: I am that person with the art degree who paints weird stuff that people don’t really get, and when someone mentions a “Paint and Sip” party, sometimes my inner voice is doing an eyeroll.

SUCH A SNOB.*

The truth is, I would have absolutely LOVED doing something like that when I was younger, and before I got a chance to take art classes at school.

Who would like a painting party class?

  • Little kid Heidi who watched Bob Ross at her grandma’s house;

  • Late teens Heidi who loved drawing class but used her school electives for Drama class;

  • Twenties Heidi who had babies and stayed up late at night making collages from fashion magazines;

  • Thirties Heidi who sewed and made quilts, and had a small stash of craft paints for projects

THOSE Heidis would have jumped at the chance to sit at a table with her friends and actually use real paint with real paintbrushes on a real canvas.

And hey, there’s wine!

But even though the past me would have loved a paint and sip party, the current me has been avoiding them. It might have something to do with the fact that many of the lessons seem to be “dumbed down.”

Even in a middle school art lesson, we give background information, including things like:

  • The Elements of Art

  • The Principles of Design

  • Art History, including

    • examples of works of art;

    • artists;

    • their techniques; and

    • materials they used or had available to them

And for these grown-up painting parties, it seems kind of like it’s “Put this color here, that color there, add a silhouette, and bam = ART!”

I don’t know, I’ve never been a fan of quick-and-dirty techniques or gimmicky results. I’m the one who wants to dive head first, learn all I can, enjoy the process and linger in the satisfaction of the end product, whatever it may be.

So in order to save my sanity, as well as offer an elevated experience for my participants, hopefully I will be able to incorporate some art-nerdy info and history into my lessons while still making them fun! I’m sure there will be a good mixture of people who are just there to have a good time, as well as those who really want to try art, and probably a few who are way better artists than I am!

Since we are going into fall, I thought I’d do a fun Halloween painting, and a decorative Thanksgiving painting. here are my concepts:

The Halloween painting is a 60’s-style, funky Midcentury modern cat; and the Thanksgiving painting is a homey pumpkin that calls us to gather together. Click here for class info.

I also have two other offerings at the Holland center: Halloween Postcards, and Collaged Gift Boxes.

Make sure to sign up for my Newsletter to be notified of local class opportunities. If you’re local to the Phoenix area, I’ll be picking up venues around here, and if you’re out of town, I plan on adding these easy-to-follow tutorials from my YouTube channel, so make sure to subscribe there as well.

*(Ok please admit it, we’re all a snob about something sometimes, right? What are YOU a snob about? Help me feel better about myself and share your snobby inner thoughts in the comments.)

Have you ever participated in a painting party? Let me know what you liked about it (or didn’t)!

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How to Use Acrylic Paint Like Watercolor (with video)