Paint by number for adults!

Do you buy Groupons? I get them in my email every day, and sometimes those great deals get me to try new things.  The trick is...you gotta use your Groupons before they expire!

Many of my best friends are famously "un-crafty".  They almost have panic attacks at the thought of creating something with their hands. But my sweet friend Glenna is my "craft buddy". So when the Groupon for Paint the Town popped up several months ago in my email inbox, I thought of Glenna. Before I could call her, she called me to see if I'd like to do a painting class with her.  Of course!!!

Realizing our Groupons were about to expire, we chose a night in October for our 2 hour paint class. Paint the Town is a group painting class format. Everyone does the same painting...almost like paint by number!  It's also a BYOB paint class. At first I thought that meant "bring your own brush", but I learned it means "bring your own bottle". It seems that a little wine consumption helps reluctant painters get their brushes moving...or maybe it just adds to the general fun. And, conveniently, Paint the Town is located right next to a liquor store!  It's also located next to Cinnamon's, and that's where Glenna and I got our liquid refreshments. Glenna brought along some appropriate Halloween snacks she confiscated at her office party earlier that afternoon, and we got to work!

There were about 20 budding painters in class...all women. Lots of friends came in groups of 2 or 3, just like us. Everyone got a real canvas, and a paper plate already prepared with globs of acrylic paint. The teacher instructed us on the step-by-step creation of our Halloween witch. There is very little "drawing" required. We traced around cardboard cutouts for the cute witch shoes. It was a great way to spend a relaxing evening... painting, snacking, chatting and comparing our works in progress. 

At the end of the evening we posed with our witch masterpieces.  It's hard to tell from the photo, but I didn't "paint within the lines". It seemed a little too "neat" for me, so I took the messy approach with my brush - less stressful that way, too. I added some extra texture on the solid orange background and a few polka dots to the chubby witch's skirt. She sure has skinny legs for the size of the rest of her...hmmm...sounds menopausal.

Here's my painting resting on the ledge over the cooktop in my kitchen...hiding a much better painting done by my daughter Sarah.

Thanks to my witchy class, I realized something...I LOVE to paint!  I practically grew up with a paintbrush in my hand, since my family owned a sign business. Then in my school years, I was always the one that got to make the posters and banners. Later,  I did a couple watercolor classes in college...but that's been a long time! A couple years ago, my daughters gave me some canvases and tubes of acrylic paint for Christmas. I whipped out a couple folk art paintings, then got distracted with...work and LIFE!  I hope to spend some more quality time with "brush in hand" soon! Check out a painting class in your town and prepare for some (messy) FUN!