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It was Valentine’s Day, what was stopping me? I’d never done it before. Maybe now was the right time to try? I just turned 21, so I’m definitely old enough.
Before you get too caught up in this story, I’m talking about my first time at a painting bar.
Artist may not be the right word to describe me, but I gave it a try at Splash Studio. You don’t have to be an experienced painter to attend a Splash Session, but a credit card to open a tab at the bar might help break your creativity out of its shell. And don’t forget your I.D.
I attended "Red Hot Love Fest," a valentine weekend partner painting of Birds Eye View, two side-by-side canvases which create one complete scene of birds perched on a wire overlooking a nighttime cityscape. I asked my co-worker Megan to tag along as my partner.
It wasn’t long before we realized we were the only pair of friends in attendance. The studio was filled with mad-in-love couples, excitedly smooching one another as they waited in line to register. I might be single, but I didn’t want that to ruin my Valentine’s Day.
It was time to grab a drink from the bar.
The night’s complimentary drink was a Hot Tamale Cocktail. It was super sweet and reddish-pink in color, garnished with red candies to match the theme. As a kid I didn’t like red hot candies. My grandma used the spicy specs at Christmas time to replicate Rudolph’s shiny nose on deer-shaped molasses cookies. As much as I love Rudolph, I never ate his nose. I liked Splash Studio’s drink, however. It tasted mostly of ginger ale and grenadine, not spicy. Plus it was free.
Aprons and palates sat in the far back corner. A chalkboard mounted on the wall listed instructions to how many pumps of each paint was needed. For some reason, being the anxious person I am, I doubted the pump suggestions were accurate and doubled up. (I ended up with more than enough paint, please don’t follow my example.)
Megan and I sat down at our reserved seats. Blank canvases propped on small easels were at each place setting. Our stools were at an angle to the Splash Artist’s easel. Great, I thought, I’m facing the opposite direction and now my painting won’t turn out. But the instructor, Jeff Redmon, painted in easy-to-follow steps and took breaks to answer our questions. I felt like I knew what I was doing, and that was comforting. Or was it the alcohol?
The studio was blasting One Republic and Imagine Dragons. I looked around the room, curious as to how my painting compared to others. Megan chose to paint with horizontal brush strokes, but I created what I like to call the firework brush stroke, an explosion of paint in every-which-way. The couple sitting behind Megan and I focused on blending, leaving no brush strokes visible on the canvas. I loved how unique each painting looked although we were all following Redmon’s same directions.
After a bit of painting and sipping drinks, we stopped for a break. A friendly woman passed by our easels and complimented my painting’s background. Wait, mine?
Maybe I am an artist.
During the break I sampled some complimentary chocolates from a small bag tied with a ribbon and strung on a red necklace. The chocolate was made by Burke, and my favorite was the toffee crumble with dark chocolate coating.
Let me tell you, the convenience of chocolate hanging from my neck and the close proximity of the bar had me content in my artsy stool… until a selfie stick started making its way around. I jumped at the opportunity to mimic celebrities on the red carpet and took a selfie of Megan and I.
We continued to paint for another hour. Surprisingly, I felt like my painting was coming together well. I drew inspiration from looking at other artwork hung on the studio’s walls: Rolling hills, sunsets, forests and giant sunflowers. If you’re not looking to paint your own piece, stop in Splash Studio to check out their gallery. It’s pretty neat.
Once finished, Megan and I took photos together with our separate yet cohesive artwork. But before we could call it a night, we had one last obstacle awaiting us. We had to carry our semi-dry paintings home on the city bus.
Don’t worry, we made it.
We plan to hang the paintings in our apartment next year. It will remind us of the fun night we had, but also impress all of our friends with our newfound artistry skills.
My first time at Splash Studio, for lack of a better word, was fun. Painting for three hours might seem like a long stretch, but the time flew and I have a polished piece of art to show for it.
