Book Club Field Trip!

Book Club Steps Out..

We pulled ourselves away from our favorite reading nooks and crannies, from our jobs and obligations, and got together for a completely un-bookish night out at a local Paint and Pub, called Pip’s Painting.  And we had a blast!  

The premise of the painting night is easy, and similar to paint by number but you are following the instructions of an actual artist and teacher.  Perfect for me, since my creative talents do not lie in the drawing and painting medium.  The class was painting peacocks the night of our class, because I reserved our date months in advance and the teacher let me pick the painting. 

But we will get to the painting in a minute. We first met at the sushi bar across the street, except for Mary who couldn't make it to dinner. We had sushi and the most delicious drinks ever, strawberry saketinis. And talk about service! We ordered these drinks and the restaurant was out of one of the ingredients, so the owner ran to the store to buy the stuff that was needed, so that we could get our drink on.  (actually, we only drank one of these each – they were strong!) Also a highlight of this restaurant is one of the owners, who looks like James Franco. Seriously. 

After, I raced ahead to the painting place across the street, since the sushi place was taking forever with the bill, and I apparently have some sort of OCD issue about being late.  Lol.  Slowly our group all trickled in, bottles of wine in hand. Pip’s graciously supplies cups, napkins, and a corkscrew- they awesomely allow you to bring your beverage of choice.  Kelly and I had both forgotten to bring anything, so she called her husband to bring us something up.  When we got to our seats, the employees of Pip’s had everything all set up for us. Paint was on a plate between every two people, brushes were in a glass of fresh water, and our canvas was on our easel, with the outline of the peacock sketched in for us.  I was very relieved about this – I had been worried my peacock was going to look like he was really messed up.  

Our instructor started us out by drawing in the eye, saying she did want us to at least draw one thing ourselves. This sparked panic throughout the room, but we all did pretty good! From here on out it was following the instructions on how and what colors to fill in with our paint.   Everyone in my book club had their own style of painting.  Mary, normally a talker, was concentrating fully on her work and was in her own world; Kelly disregarded the color instructions and made her own, based on her own design sense.  Jill, who is working on embracing her own creativity, made bold splashes of color across her canvas, and Chrissy, the perfectionist, worked intensely, and had the sharpest outline and best peacock eye. The only thing I can say about myself is that I was the messiest! I had paint on my hands, on my face, and in my hair.  I am not sure what this says about me. 

We all seemed to have a great time, and want to go back and do it again! We missed our friends Jennifer and Alyssa, hopefully the next time we go they can make it.  It was good to step out of our everyday and do something different, and I think we all did a great job painting, considering none of us have ever really painted a picture before.  I also want to give props to our teacher, who did a great job leading us through our painting. I can't wait to go again!

Left to right: Jill, Chissy, me-hidden because I had to hold my painting up and I am not tall, Kelly, and Mary