Sisters Paint and Wine

I am super sad to inform you that Sisters Paint and Wine is no longer in business. I am beginning to surmise that 10 years is a long time to own and operate a wine and/or other small business by yourself. I also speak from experience since I have owned/tried many small business ventures over the years. Many factors play a role in the demise of these enterprises, but I won’t take the time to address that here and now.

I don't remember how the idea of painting while drinking wine was formed as a desirable activity in my head, because I haven't really painted in the past. [unless you count finger painting as a child] I must have driven past a place, saw it advertised in a magazine, or heard about it from a co-worker. I am pretty positive though, that I looked on google and picked the closest studio to our campground. From there I selected a night they were going to paint something I liked and thought I could undertake. Plus, I was clearly going to hang it in our motorhome so it had to be epic, ya know!?  

I bought a ticket online, showed up on the correct date and scheduled time, and once I walked in the door I learned that paint and wine go together like ramma-lamma-lamma-ka-dingity-da-dinga-dong!! This cute little wine bar immediately beckoned you with its creative menu for the yummy choices of the evening. I tried the Black Mesa Chocolate [because hello… chocolate!!] and when I turned around toward the studio, I had stars in my eyes. I picked a seat towards the front [cause I'm a nerd] and the sign claiming that “creativity has no limits” was all the encouragement I needed!!

At the front of the room and on an elevated stage [the better to see her] was the instructors’ easel. We each received a paper plate with the palate of colors that we would be using that evening, and we went over the brushes soaking in a water cup. [their function based on the size and shape of the bristles and when we would use them] At the appropriate time, she explained [through a portable headset mic… way cool!!] that she would be walking us through, step by step how to turn our blank canvas into a personal masterpiece!! She would then enact the current step on her own canvas as she explained what we should be doing, and walked around to see our progress, answered any questions, and gave us valuable pointers.

You can tell that the photo above is at the beginning of the evening... empty canvas with a full wine glass… what you can’t tell yet is that I [clearly] was a natural. Haha!! I decided to do this painting because of the abstract wine bottles, but little did I know how easy it was going to be for me. Keep in mind that I had a very nice glass of [wine] confidence, which they kindly reminded us to not confuse with our paintbrush water glass!!

To start we added the background colors to the entire canvas, [do you have any idea how good acrylic paint smells!?] let it dry, and then traced the wine bottles from pre-cut templets. After that, we followed our instructor as we went back over the tracing with paint, using the correct brushes to add all the details... easy peasy right!? [well.. for me it was! LOL] All that was left to do was add my personal signature... "Mrswixy"

You can tell this is at the end of the evening... full canvas with an empty wine glass!! [HA] This is the finished product… I was [and still am] so pleased with it!! [not to mention kinda proud of myself] This hung in the motorhome for several years, then went back and forth from our rental house [when we were staying there] to the motorhome. It now permanently hangs on my wall of numerous "Mrswixy" originals at the house, but it will always have a special place in my heart!!

If you take away nothing else from this reading, please remember these two things...

1. Pay attention... do not pick up and drink from your paintbrush water glass!!

2. Do not accidentally dip or put your paintbrush in your wine glass!!

Next Wednesday Wine with Wixy will be back to explore the Corrales Wine Loop with a couple of fellow travel nurse friends!! 

Cheers to you my wine loving friends, and TTFN!!