***If you're on instagram, start following me!!! You'll find me under urbanlivingsalemor. I've been instagraming stuff as I do it, some of which I won't blog about. Instagram would be a good way to find out what fun thing is available to do in downtown Salem right now with no wait time!***
I put on my most artistic looking beanie and met up with two of my friends on a cold Thursday night at the taproom where festive lights were strung and flamey heaters were blazing outside. The night was supposed to start at 6pm, but when I arrived just on time, it was still being set up. We chatted and grabbed some drinks while we were waiting. As part of the admission price for painting (which was a somewhat spendy $40), we were all given a $10 drink credit. I started sipping a glass of my favorite cider there, the Statehood.
1859 doesn't serve dinner, but my friends decided to order from Urban Alley, which was just down the alley from us. I had no idea that they would deliver to 1859! Awesome! I'll have to take advantage of that sometime! When their food showed up, the delivery person even took their credit cards and went back to run them. That's pretty nice!
The night initially felt a little disorganized, but I suppose the artistic types normally operate in a free-flowing way after all. But by about 6:20, we were ready to paint. Our instructor thanked us for our patience for the bit of chaos and not being ready on time and said that she has her act together once a month and last week was it :). It also didn't help that only 4 people had RSVP'd on her website, but 8 people showed up ready to paint so she had to reorganize.
The painting of the night was called "Winter Wonderland." She showed us her sample which looked like a whimsical tree decorated for Christmas. We each grabbed a brush and started following the instructions as she gave them.
First we started with the background where we did swirls of different colors. She painted along with us the whole night to demonstrate how to go about it. It was great to have her talk us through it and give tips, like try dipping your brush in water and going back over the colors to blend them. I also thought it was great that she told us that her instructions weren't commands; she encouraged us to listen to the voice inside of us and if it told us to do something different than she instructed, then we should go with that. Her instructions were just suggestions. That felt pretty freeing. We swirled away on our backgrounds.
After the background was in place, we each added a tree. She taught us some tips about which brushes to use, how to hold the brush, and how trees tend to fork into different limbs. After our initial trees were done, she invited us to add swirls at the end of the branches if we wanted to. My tree looked pretty serious though. When the instructor had been circulating, she told me that my tree looked like it was very intentional and like it was saying "I'm here, this is me, deal with it." I told her that my tree didn't want swirls. She said good, that I should listen to my tree :)
The next step was to add Christmas ornaments to the tree. The teacher told us that we didn't have to add them if we didn't want to, but I decided to make mine festive. I think she was surprised that I did since it was a serious tree. She cautioned us to be careful what colors we chose for the ornaments to make sure that they would stand out against the background. Good advice! She also invited us to put spirals in the ornaments, but I declined that suggestion.
The last step to the painting was to add the snow. I plopped some fluffy looking snow piles into the crevasses of my tree branches, then added spots of falling snow around the tree, as instructed.
At the end of the night, the 8 of us all ended up with very unique but similar masterpieces. It was a really fun experience, and my type of art because it involved a sample to follow (coming up with an idea can be hard!) and tips all along the way. Having cider to sip on didn't hurt either. It was fun to just give it a try and to see what happened. I wasn't totally jazzed about my outcome and wasn't sure what I'd do with my picture. Lucky for my painting, my mom asked me the next day what my plans were for it and when I answered, 'I don't know...throw it away?" she gasped and said no, she wanted to take it home and hang it in one of their spare bedrooms. I allowed her the pleasure of doing so.
If you'd like to make your mom happy with a new painting, or if you'd like to see where your creativity might take you, I'd recommend checking out Serendipities by Dena. The link there is to her class calendar. Most of her spots aren't in downtown, but on December 20th she will be back at 1859 Cider Co. for a winter solstice class where you could paint the northern lights. Sounds like a great way to celebrate the coming of winter!
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