I am no artist. My drawing skills are so heinous that I used to ask my little sister do my posters for school presentations. I tried to take an art class once, but when I proudly displayed my moon-over-the-ocean landscape that more resembled a Moon-Over-My Hammy breakfast plate, the teacher just patted me on the head with a pitying smile that said, “I’m sure you’re good at…other things”.
So when my friend suggested we take a group painting class, I was skeptical. Isn’t there some kind of minimum skill requirement for a painting class? Like the ability to paint a straight line, or maybe even a circle? I could only imagine the daunting tasks they would ask us to do after that.
But all of the girls were doing it, and they assured me there would be copious amounts of wine. Wine and painting? At first, it sounded like a dangerous idea, but I figured maybe it would help awake the Monet-like genius that has been residing in my subconscious all these years. And when we arrived, the teacher even informed us, “The wine helps make your painting look better! Until tomorrow, at least.” She was full of clever little quips like that.
When we arrived at The Painted Cabernet on State Street, I instantly felt at home. With great tall ceilings and walls filled with the creations of painters-past, a wine bar, and rows of blank canvases waiting to be transformed into drunken masterpieces, the ambiance was both modern and classy, and warm and inviting.
The class fee included a glass of wine, but of course we bought a bottle to supplement it. The teacher instructed us step by step how to create the night’s painting, “Starry Night”, and as we painted, the speakers blasted party music. We painted and laughed and drank the night away; it was fantastic!
By the end of class we were quite drunk proud of our creations and boldly marched around State Street showing them off to anyone who would look. It was great to feel like perhaps I do have some semblance of artistic ability buried beneath all those awkward stick figure drawings.
The following weekend I was feeling inspired by the painting class and decided to cross off another item on my Santa Barbara Bucket List and visit the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. Sundays are FREE at the museum, so a friend and I wandered up the stairs and into the cool, quiet building to take in the exhibits. From Chinese tapestries to Monet to black and white photography, they had quite a range of artistic selections. And we only covered the bottom floor!
I’m not a huge art buff, but I enjoyed the experience and definitely recommend anyone in Santa Barbara to check out the museum. Of course we capped off the day with a healthy portion of gelato from nearby Spoon!
Have you ever taken an art + wine class? What was your experience like? Feel free to tell me how impressed you are with my mad painting skills. 😉
This is awesome! I would love to do this! Hopefully I can make it to Santa Barbara sometime in the near future 🙂
You definitely should, Santa Barbara is amazing! Although I think wine & painting venues like this are cropping up all over the place. Where are you these days?