No matter if you’re an experienced artist who can work up a masterpiece with a few strokes of a paintbrush, enjoy dabbling on a canvas as a hobby, or have no artistic experience at all, it’s easy to express yourself at Paint Nite. This new concept blends two timeless pastimes: artistic painting and drinking cocktails, as a way to draw patrons into local pubs with the opportunity to be creative and socialize. Paint Nites, which are two hour step-by-step painting classes with a nice glass of whatever-you’d-like, are held daily around the country, each with 25 people in attendance.

Since I’m drawn to anything artistic, Paint Nite caught my attention, so I signed up for the spring blossoms painting this past Thursday night at a wine bar. It was a fun, cheery way to welcome the spring. Since the classes fill up ahead of time, I signed up about a month in advance, when there were only a few seats left.

Theresa Christensen was the lead artist of the night. She had us women and one man (my boyfriend, Tim) dip our paintbrushes into the cup of water and run it across our canvases. After it dried, we used some blue to create a circle, which would eventually become our sun, and then cover the rest of the canvas in blue. Read More