I’d never been to a sip and paint party before - and I nearly didn’t make this one thanks to noravirus, but luckily our house was 3 days clear by the night of the event. A lot of sip and paint parties are run in pubs and bars, so our venue - a local Pilates studio - was a little different, but no less perfect as a setting.
The night started very promptly at 7pm, and ran to a strictly (but not in a rushed or bad way) schedule to finish at 9pm. This would leave you plenty of time, in a pub, for drinks afterwards, or in my case meant I could have a lovely evening out without a late night.
Firstly, our very lively artist passed around a stencil for us to draw the outline of our elephant (each session is a different painting and I had friends there who were on animal number 3). She then talked us through exactly how much paint to put on our brushes and how to apply it to our canvas and where. It’s basically paint by numbers without the numbers - you’re expertly guided through every stroke whilst the artist paints their own version at the front, and comes around to help you with any questions.
Gradually everything comes together, and you build up your work of art! For me, it was amazing to have 2 hours absorbed in an activity with no interruptions, so I found it very relaxing. However other people were saying they were finding it stressful and having to remind themselves to breathe! The thing was though, I genuinely didn’t mind how it turned out - largely because I trusted the process. If you just follow the instructions, you’ll end up with a lovely picture. As we all did - a room of approximately 30 elephants all the same but all different.
I've put a reel of it on Insta so you can see how it comes together!
The night cost £35 which got me a glass of bubbly, my large painting (and all the paint involved with it) and a small print of the artists’ original.
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