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On display at Painting With a Twist are paintings from other parties.
because their mind is, well, occupied.
"It is so fascinating, you can do scrapbooking … you can do all kinds of things, but when you paint, you have to use your left brain and your right brain so you don't think about anything else," she explains. "You can just relax and breathe. Here, you drop everything and you actually come out with something that you go, look what I did!"
Q RULE NUMBER FIVE
Take a break; your painting will
thank you for it. Mirc says she is often reminding people that they have come to class for fun. They need to give themselves a break and enjoy a chance to unwind with their friends. The focus may be the painting, but the fun is the entire experience.
SPRING 2012
Taking a break lets you loosen up, and when you return to the canvas, you just might be a little less intimidated.
Q RULE NUMBER SIX
Step back for a little perspective. "It's really less about the
painting and more about the people. It's very much like a book club because in book clubs, half the time you haven't read the book, and in this, the paint becomes secondary," Dodson says.
Which brings us to the final rule on the wall.
Q RULE NUMBER SEVEN
Have fun, it's a party!
With Soft Cell's "Tainted
Love" filling the room, it's about two hours and three cups of wine in for most of the
women — and they are painting to the beat. Some have donned hot pink feather boas. A few are wearing princess crowns they grabbed off the back costume wall. All are singing the chorus of the '80s anthem, "Once I ran to you, I ran. Now, I run from you…"
Paintbrushes in hand, shoulders swaying, hips shaking, they almost shout, "Tainted Love! Ohhh, Tainted Love!"
It is a painting party. Mirc is practically dancing around the room, surveying the work of her newly trained students. Each canvas looks like a slightly different take on the painting she used as an example. Experience tells her most of these women will be back to paint again in the next few months.
"I think it is kind of a trend," she says. "I think everyone is always looking for something
different. There's the bowling alley, the movies. But this is a different kind of night out on the town.
"I really think this is also a big self-confidence booster," she continues. "Most people come in and they don't think they can do anything. They sit down, the music is on and somewhere in the process they really wow themselves. I think it's a big self-esteem booster when people can go 'Wow, I made this!'"
At least three paint studios of this type have opened in Charlotte in the last year. All are popular, and it's easy to see why. You can see it on the women's faces. You can see it in their paintings. And you can see it scrawled on the shop's wall. Just to the right of "the rules," painted in the same italics, is the shop's motto: "A little bit of paint, a little bit of wine, and a lot of fun!"
BALLANTYNE MAGAZINE 45