What better way to cap off a stressful week than to Relax, Sip your fave beverage, Visit with friends, and Paint on a Friday night, right? Right! That's what RSVPaint -- the hottest new trend in Springfield -- is all about. My sister Kris and I tried it out last night and had a fabulous time, along with nearly 40 other wanna-be artists.
Here's how it works: bring your own wine, beer, or whatever drink you fancy and RSVPaint provides the easel, canvas, paints and instruction to create a work of art. They also throw in inspiring music along with glasses, corkscrews, and a fridge to keep your beverage chilled. Each "class" has a themed painting, which can be viewed on their website, that the instructor walks you through creating step-by-step. Last night's piece had a Halloweeny feel, with a dusky blue night sky and owls on a stark tree branch. Some attendees choose to paint the picture verbatim with the teacher's directions, others gave it their own flare, choosing bats or doves over owls. A few, including me and Kris, said phooey on have-tos and created whatever the drinkypoo and music inspired in us. Kris -- who is tactilely talented in sewing, painting, designing and so many other things -- went avant garde, letting her brush flow with fanciful colors and shapes. Always gaga over sunrises and sunsets, I recreated my vision of the sun melting beside a Rapid Roberts gas sign and streaking the sky and contrail cotton candy pink that I saw while driving to RSVPaint. An artist I am not -- take a look at the photo of my painting below and I bet you'll agree. But it was an amazing experience to work with my hands instead of my brain, to experiment blending colors together instead of words, to feel the stroke of the brush on the rough canvas instead of the glide of pen on smooth paper. I don't give a flip that the result is amateurish and silly. One woman commented, "You must really be concerned about gas prices," and I just smiled at her. I will keep my painting to remember the delightful sensation of playing with color and texture and watching a vision materialize from my eyes into something real that only I could create. I may not hang it on the wall, but I'll treasure it nonetheless.
Sounds pretty cool, huh? The classes are only $35, and Kris got a two-for-one deal on Groupon. Plus, they have Walk-in Wednesdays from 6 to 9 p.m. for only $25, and you can paint anything you want without the class. Grab your gal pals and cocktails and check out RSVPaint in downtown Springfield. Try it, you'll love it!
http://www.rsvpaint.com/
Here's how it works: bring your own wine, beer, or whatever drink you fancy and RSVPaint provides the easel, canvas, paints and instruction to create a work of art. They also throw in inspiring music along with glasses, corkscrews, and a fridge to keep your beverage chilled. Each "class" has a themed painting, which can be viewed on their website, that the instructor walks you through creating step-by-step. Last night's piece had a Halloweeny feel, with a dusky blue night sky and owls on a stark tree branch. Some attendees choose to paint the picture verbatim with the teacher's directions, others gave it their own flare, choosing bats or doves over owls. A few, including me and Kris, said phooey on have-tos and created whatever the drinkypoo and music inspired in us. Kris -- who is tactilely talented in sewing, painting, designing and so many other things -- went avant garde, letting her brush flow with fanciful colors and shapes. Always gaga over sunrises and sunsets, I recreated my vision of the sun melting beside a Rapid Roberts gas sign and streaking the sky and contrail cotton candy pink that I saw while driving to RSVPaint. An artist I am not -- take a look at the photo of my painting below and I bet you'll agree. But it was an amazing experience to work with my hands instead of my brain, to experiment blending colors together instead of words, to feel the stroke of the brush on the rough canvas instead of the glide of pen on smooth paper. I don't give a flip that the result is amateurish and silly. One woman commented, "You must really be concerned about gas prices," and I just smiled at her. I will keep my painting to remember the delightful sensation of playing with color and texture and watching a vision materialize from my eyes into something real that only I could create. I may not hang it on the wall, but I'll treasure it nonetheless.
Sounds pretty cool, huh? The classes are only $35, and Kris got a two-for-one deal on Groupon. Plus, they have Walk-in Wednesdays from 6 to 9 p.m. for only $25, and you can paint anything you want without the class. Grab your gal pals and cocktails and check out RSVPaint in downtown Springfield. Try it, you'll love it!
http://www.rsvpaint.com/
 |
| My painting of the sun melting beside a Rapid Roberts gas sign. Besides the gorgeous sunset, gas for $2.93 got me excited! |
No comments:
Post a Comment
Your comments are always welcome, anonymous or otherwise. Let's chat!