Paint Nite and Splash : 2015-07

So while Groupon often leads to spending money, it also has some great ideas.  One such idea I stumbled across were painting events - Paint Nite and Splash.  The only significant difference was the location.  Splash has their own shop/studio while Paint Nite changes venues. These posts are in reverse order - we tried Paint Nite first (June 2015) and our most recent was with Splash.  What I think is the coolest thing about these events is it gets people to paint - even though they think they can't paint and/or aren't artists.

Splash is a privately owned shop in downtown Colorado Springs (now apparently defunct) and the owner was the instructor for our event. They actually have several different events and can host private events.  Both Splash and Paint Nite will walk you through a painting but you can always create what you want.  For our night at Splash, the painting was "Dandelions".  Out paintings are below...

On the left is Ashley's painting.  She followed the instructor and I think it turned out fantastic! I liked the proposed background and thought it would be great to add a koi.  However, I didn't quite reach the same effect, and I still think the darker background would've looked better.  I do like how acrylics can give similar effects as watercolors and I ran with those effects.  I call mine Ashley Koi, and these painting events are getting me hooked on acrylics.  I think these are two nice pieces of artwork if I do say so myself.

Paint Nite (still does exist) was our first experience and our particular event was in an Old Chicago. Both Paint Nite and Splash mix painting with access to drinks which lightens the mood and makes it not just a painting event, but a social outing. The theme/painting for our June event was a sunset with a sailboat. Our paintings are below...

Ashley followed the instructor and her work of art is on the left.  One thing cool about this event was it was initial exposure to acrylics for both of us.  I really wanted to play with the acrylics so I followed my own path. I came up with Ashley Hawk (right).  This was a quite enjoyable painting.

If you haven't done something like this, I highly recommend it. It gets people out of comfort zones and in the end, you walk away with a piece of art.  Both companies can be found on Groupon - so certainly search there first.  Even if you can't find one of these two companies in your area, I recommend searching something similar.  If you were to set something up like this for a birthday party or other social event, you would be a hit!

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