StelnikArt Soirée

It takes a lot to make me forget tables of food and my Unilocal friends (oops!!). But that’s exactly what StelnikArt Soirée managed to do at the Unilocal Holiday Hangover 2016. A few Unilocalers were already sitting down and painting when I fled from the cold outside deck of the Hornblower and passed by. One of the instructors asked, «do you want to paint?» and the rest was history. You get a palate, and a brush and a canvas. Subject of the evening was a peacock. My canvas had a blue body started by Nicole, and the instructor suggested I finish it. Game on. I wasn’t quite sure what this table was about but I did my thing, slowly realizing that this was art instruction as I listened to the teachers give various pointers to the painters. Maybe my seat by the open door made them stay far, far away from me and the blustery wind. Maybe they realized that I knew how to mix primary colors and probably didn’t look lost. But they left me alone, except to come over several times to admire my work. I noticed the instructors were very good about giving encouragement and pointers to those who didn’t have any background in painting. There were also aprons provided also, to those concerned about their clothing. Geesh, I could have spent the entire evening painting, it was that much fun, creating and talking to other friendly Unilocalers and seeing how people painted the same subject differently.
This is a great «event» to have at any party, corporate or private, like a birthday. It is relaxing, therapeutic and can be social, unless you have Michelangelo’s disposition. The canvas size was perfect as we had a small table. I would have liked a more varied palate than primary colors. If you’ve ever painted a cheetah, you know it’s hard to get the burnt sienna in the eyes or that yellow ochre. But then again, there was a space problem and StelnikArt smartly chose an easier subject, color wise, to restrict the color palette. I do think the instructors could have done a better job asking about someone’s painting experience; I had to tell another Unilocaler how to mix blue and yellow to get green. My brush also kept losing the ferrule and I only had one shape of brush head to work with. I would also have liked the water that was used to clean the brushes changed more often. But then again, it’s too nitpicky since we were on the Hornblower. In hindsight, the StelnikArt people were quite creative on how to manage supplies in a small setting, the foil covered cardboard palettes one example.
I would definitely do this again and recommend them to any party planner. Hooray to Unilocal for adding them to the Hornblower Holiday Hangover.

The host seemed very friendly when I had tried scheduling a painting session with a friend in the city. However, when I got there and the painting session started, I was very appalled at the level of professionalism. Rather than explain or guide me through the painting process with the art piece, the host decided to grab my painting tools and started to smear paint all over my art work several times during the session. I would never suggest this painting night with this company to anyone. Also, the painting canvas are a size of an average sized textbook. I’ve seen friends’ who have had far more better experience elsewhere with canvases four times the size. I highly suggest looking elsewhere.

I am in LOVE with this painting party workshop.
I’ve attended three different times, all three with different people at different locations, and have always always always had a fantastic time.
Debra is the instructor and she does such a great job. She’s patient and gives you tips and ideas on how to make a good painting. She guides the class appropriately, and in a timely manner in order to give everyone sufficient time to finish their painting. If you follow her instructions on where to start and how to mix your colors, you’ll end up with a beautiful unique piece that presents your own personal painting style. All of my paintings are hung up on my wall and every time I look at them, it makes me smile, remembering good times with good people.
I highly recommend attending at least one these painting parties. You won’t regret it.

My boyfriend and I did this with Deb and had a blast. She is so fun and nice and the painting instruction was really helpful. I told my girlfriends about it and would love to go back with them!

I had SO much fun during this class which was filled with instruction, meeting new people, and cocktails. The class is shown a picture that to be painted during the class. It looked complicated to me. The instructor, Deb, put everyone at ease and said «it’s really not that difficult». I’m lucky I can follow paint by number instructions. I ended up with a colorful painting that I am NOT embarrassed to show to friends. I would recommend this painting class to people who are looking to learn something fun while meeting new people!
You can take this class solo or even with a few friends. Either way you will leave with art that you created and a smile on your face!!!

I really really enjoyed this class «The Tipsy Artist Painting Workshop». I learned some techniques and the instructors are very helpful and very friendly. I received some good constructive feedback. It was very fun and as someone who is not comfortable artistically I appreciated have the painting sketched for me. I really had a blast and everyone involved was extremely kind and had a great sense of humor — which is important for a beginners level painting class. Would definitely recommend to friends.

This class-​the Tipsy Artist Painting Workshop-​was so much fun! I thought that the class was simple and instructional. I was amazed at my work (I paint stick figures) and that everyone’s painting turned out slightly different; but so nice! the staff was very helpful and I think it was a very cool way for learning how to paint. Thanks Tipsy Artist! I really enjoyed the class and it is Highly Recommended!

I purchased this class through Groupon and signed up with a friend. First issue I encountered was that the class’s Facebook page wasn’t working properly, so I couldn’t enter in my Groupon code for scheduling and worried I’d be expected to pay full price for the class. Then a couple of weeks before the class we were sent an email saying that it was being rescheduled from 4:30 — 6:30pm to 3:15 — 5:15pm and that there would only be waitress service after 5pm. I thought that the «no waitress service» part sounded weird, but I figured a bar/​place to get our drinks would still be open even if there wasn’t going to be a waitress – especially since the class is called The TIPSY Artist Painting Workshop.
Next issue was the day before the class, when the instructor text messaged everyone as a group to confirm. I found that very rude and annoying since I don’t have unlimited text messages and couldn’t stop being sent texts from everyone in the group. Then the Instructor sent everyone a separate, confusing text message reminder of the time change – «TIIME WAS CHANGED from 3:15pm-5:15pm.» That was proceeded by another slew of texts from people in the group asking for clarification. Her text also didn’t mention the name of the class, which seemed unprofessional.
When we went to the class, the address given was clearly marked on the building, but the door was locked and the directory did not list the class’s name. Since we were given no instruction given on how to buzz in, I text messaged the instructor. We finally understood that the location was The Cutting Room, a bar next door, and made it up to the «painting area. This was an open area at the second level/​balcony of the bar with a couple of folding tables set up with the painting materials. I was very poorly lit, with tacky chandeliers that threw shadows across everything. The instructor was not ready for us even though we came on time. She then told us to make ourselves comfortable at the other end of the balcony, where there was one long seat that could only fit 4 people. We waited there for at least 10 mins, filling out a sheet asking us information about ourselves and whether we were okay with our picture being taken. I marked «no» for this since I didn’t want to end up in marketing materials for this place. The sheet also asked if we had a coupon or were going to pay the full price. I was surprised that the full price was $ 79, especially since drinks were not included. No one should pay that much for this class. The $ 25 we paid was already overpriced given the experience we had.
When we actually sat down to start painting, we found a little sheet of foil with acrylic primary, black and white paints, a medium sized paintbrush, a dirty sponge, and glass jars with water. The paper towels we were given were taken from the small restroom in our area of the bar, which was left wide open so the instructor’s assistant could change our paint water in it. We had printer-​paper-​sized canvases with a rough sketch of the image we were going to paint – a tropical parrot on a branch surrounded by leaves – drawn on in pencil. I could hardly see the sketch in the poor light and the actual images were taped around the room, making them no easier to see. We received little to no instruction on how to paint the picture and no techniques were demonstrated to us. At one point the instructor said the «technique» we should use involved using the dirty little sponge in front of us to paint the features of the parrot. Other than that she talked incessantly with her assistant about upcoming plans and went around a few times asking us if we needed help or commenting on our work thus far.
The worst part of it all was that it turned out we weren’t able to get drinks before 5pm because no waitress service meant the bar was closed, as well. The instructor said something like «well this is a complicated painting so it’s good you’re not drinking and can just focus.» I couldn’t believe it. Half of the allure of the class was having a drink while painting and relaxing! On top of that, the bar was setting up for a live music show, so we were constantly barraged by instruments being warmed up and guys yelling to each other. By the end my friend and I were stressed and frustrated, and wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. When I left the instructor asked me how it was and I said «stressful.» She then had the nerve to say «well everyone needs stress in their life or they wouldn’t grow» and «you should get a drink.» I will never attend one of these classes again.