Bring Out Your Inner Artist
Artists Guild hosts Bottle & Brush
By Sally Slattery
The sight of a paintbrush used to intimidate me - I was one of those. Add paint and a canvas - I wouldn't know where to begin. But hand me a glass of wine - I'm in. So wine and paintbrush together...I figured I could give it a try.
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| Slattery's completed Bottle & Brush masterpiece. |
With my boyfriend Luke Collins and a bottle of red wine in tow, I entered the Artists Guild on a quiet Friday night to create a complete painting in just a few hours. We tied our smocks, examined the series of brushes at our table, and exhaled at the sight of the blank white canvas.
"We're going to go through this step by step," co-instructor and Artists Guild co-owner Sarah Bradley assured the crowd of novice painters, all above the age of twenty-something, while her husband Jeff Bradley, co-instructor and co-owner, squirted blue, white, and green paint on our paper plates.
The couple provided patient, thorough, and often humorous instruction. We created our surprisingly diverse backgrounds - some opted for smaller strokes, others for darker skies. With generous gobs of paint on my brush, I went back and forth across the canvas for thick, wide strokes of night sky, adding green here and there for a subtle suggestion of the Northern Lights.
I felt good, loose and captivated by the process. I felt in control...but not too in control. I felt like an artist, a confident artist as we took the next steps - creating black branches, a full moon, a proud stag, and stars - with the Bradleys peering over our shoulders, offering suggestions, advice, complements, laughter, and refills of wine.
The Artists Guild holds Bottle & Brush on Fridays from 6 - 8 pm. The cost to attend is $35. For reservations call 920.743.9900.