Well that is what I would have told you yesterday! I am quite good with crafting and can confidently sew, knit and decorate. I am happy painting walls or wood but “proper art” has always scared me. My art lessons at school consisted of 2 years age 11 -13 with Mr Hodgkinson. We drew pencil sketches of a bowl of fruit for what seemed like weeks on end and if the weather was good we went out into the playing fields to draw trees. I remember we had to work in complete silence or risk the blackboard eraser being thrown at our heads and Jonathan Kirby being tied to a stool with electrical wire because he wouldn’t sit still. British education in the early 1980’s did not really fill me with enthusiasm for the subject. Fast forward 30 years and I found The Paint Republic They started 2 years ago following the trend for “paint and sip” parties which has become very popular in the U.S. and Canada. I was lucky to be invited to their launch party in Bath and even better it was being held in a pub! Hall & Woodhouse
We were met by the team at 6.45 pm with a glass of prosecco, given an apron and the scary blank canvas. 
Our tutor was miked up and took us through each stage of the picture, one colour at a time while blasting out party music and telling some bad jokes. We were just in the back of the pub so regular customers wandering past were as amazed as we were by what we were doing. If you wanted to you could stuff food from the bar or sup on a pint while you worked. I did think it too risky for me as I would have ended up washing my paint brush out in a g & t. The first hour whizzed past and we then had a quick canvas drying session (waving the painting up and down to Erasure) and a 10 min break.
The second hour we worked on the details, mainly in black and before I knew it we had finished. Our tutor was so enthusiastic, running around our work stations, telling us how brilliant we all were and encouraging us to freestyle. The evening was incredibly good fun and I still can’t quite believe I created this.
The next public event in Bath is February 15th 2017 Events and costs £25 to book a place. Factor in you don’t need to provide any materials and I think this is really good value. They also run private events for groups of 15 -80 people so if you need something new for your club or group do give them a shout.
(info@thepaintrepublic.com or t 07861 295124 / 07920 013062.)
vanilla letters 