Are you looking for something fun to do over the school break?
Consider booking an art session at Painting With a Twist, a franchised studio where degreed painters will teach you and your friends how to recreate a picture of your choice.
The Southfield Jay news staff recently took a painting class together one afternoon at the Painting With a Twist studio in Ferndale, which we figured would be a fun and relaxing bonding experience. A painting session could be a last-minute gift idea for a special person, or give someone your finished painting as a holiday gift.
News Editor and senior Ariel Walker said, “It was my idea that we did Painting With a Twist, I heard so much about it and thought it would be really fun to go with my newspaper class.”
Painting With a Twist allows customers to choose any of the approximately 4,000 paintings that the studio offers, and a private instructor then guides the group through each step to recreate the painting.
The length of the session might vary from two to three hours, depending on the painting that your group chooses. Groups of 10 or more get a private party room with their own artist.
There are many different reasons to go to Painting With a Twist. For example, it could be a fun birthday party, bachelorette party, baby shower, church group outing, office party, graduation party, field trip, girls’ night out, or just any reason to get together with friends, coworkers or neighbors.
Private parties for adults and teenagers over the age of 12 can be booked either for a two-hour session for the price of $35 per person or a three-hour session for $45 per person. Children ages 7-12 pay $25 per person. A $50 non-refundable deposit is required to reserve a private party.
“When (Southfield Jay Adviser) Mrs. Hofsess said we needed to pay $35 if we wanted to go, I was a little skeptical due to senior year expenses,” said Features Editor Renae Moses, who is a senior. “I need every penny to go toward those bills, but I knew this would add on to great high school memories, and I just had to participate.”
For our art session, we selected a picture of a tree at night against the moon. We used the largest of our four paint brushes to create the gray background, then a smaller brush to create the earth, and an even smaller brush to paint the tree trunk and branches. For the flowers on the tree, we used a special technique where we just dabbed the largest brush against the canvas to suggest flowers on the branches.
As you can imagine, everybody’s painting turned out a little differently. We picked different colors for the flowers; one person put her initial inside the moon, one put her tree on the left side of the canvas, not the right. It was fun to see everybody’s creative side.
Now some may be wondering what the “Twist” is in Painting With a Twist. Painters can bring in their own food and beverages.
Freshman staff writer Takiyah Wahhab said, “This was an awesome experience. The best part was Kat flirting with the painting instructor and Mrs. Hofsess buying us Buffalo Wild Wings to eat before our session started.”