Paint Nite Recap

For those of you that know me, you know that I'm not at all artistic. I don't create things. I can't make things, craft things, I have no God-given artsy talent. I heard of this Paint Nite event that they hold all over the city, and we picked one based on the painting. They range in skill levels, but we liked the Cherry Blossom tree (I was partial to picking this painting because we had Japanese Cherry Blossoms in our wedding centerpieces).


So, Wednesday I worked 9-5 (which turned out to be 8-6:15), and we headed over to Merivale for the event. We grabbed a drink and ordered some food, and went to find our spot. There were about 40 people at the event, and it was a lot of fun.


I know a lot of people feel painting is a relaxing experience. But I was a stressed out basket case the entire time. I have never been so filled with self-doubt and competitiveness at the same time. I knew I wasn't very good at painting (or assumed so anyways), and I knew I wanted my painting to be better than those around me, and I wanted the teacher to praise me when she walked by (some things never change). So, as I stared at the blank white canvas, and the three blobs of paint in front of me, I feel like hyperventilating, lol. HOW does red, black and white make this entire painting. HOW is this enough paint to cover the whole canvas. Can I keep this apron? Is everyone staring at my painting? And then as I looked around, I realised everyone had the same look on their face.  Everyone was second guessing every single brush stroke, and the teacher helped guide us in the steps, but did not tell us exactly what to do. So everyone's looked very different by the end--and it was actually very cool to see everyones interpretation and choices in their painting.


I started out hating my picture, but by the end, I was feeling much more confident in it. I was surprised to see it didn't look like a two year old painted it!


The event usually costs about $48, but if you use coupon code TRACYT20, you can take any class for just $28. Instead of going through Groupon (which has an expiration date), you and anyone you know can use this coupon code as many times as you want. Knock yourself out! Get out of your comfort zone and paint a picture. Whether you shove it in your closet after, or hang it above your fireplace, it's something you can be proud of, a thing off the "to-do" list, and if nothing else, a fun night out with some of your friends! And yes, there were even a number of men in the group last night!


As soon as we left, I wanted to go on paintnite.com and find another event. How fun! I hope you all go out and do one! Enjoy :) And don't stress out as much as I did--no one there cares about what you're doing!