Sip, sip, paint

The Hanna Recreation Center was the site of a Sip and Paint party which, had over a dozen participants, on December 18.

According to Director Vivian Gonzales, the Town of Hanna had some office workers who asked if a Sip and Paint party could be held at the recreation center.

Gonzales thought it would be great to try.

It had originally been scheduled for December 10, but weather delayed the get together. A permit for the event was approved the Hanna Town Council on December 14.

What is a Paint and Sip and why is it so popular?

Paint and Sip events usually combine a professionally led painting class with a high-energy environment and a few drinks. In the case of the Hanna event, YouTube had a demonstration which was put on an overhead TV and shown to the painters. Wine is the most popular drink of choice, as was the case at this event, but beer, liquor and lemonade are also served.

What many participants like is getting to snack while painting, and the event at Hanna had plenty of food to choose from.

The artists were painting the same picture and the YouTube video was explicit in its step-by-step directives. The instructor provided intermittent breaks so artists could top off without missing a brushstroke.

"We can stop it and review any time we want," Gonzales told the painters. "We can take our time with this."

The subject being painted was a cow's head. The cow's face looked somewhat like the dairy company Borden's "Elsie the Cow".

The attendees at the Hanna Sip and Paint were all female, but men are known to participate also. Classes are two to three hours long when planning to set aside the time to attend these events.

Class length depends on the painting chosen. Some scenes to reproduce can be detailed, but the Hanna event started easy.

Another attribute to Sip and Paint events, an attendee doesn't need to know a single thing about painting prior to showing up. Instructors talk participants through everything, from how to mix paint colors to what sort of brush strokes to use.

The supplies to have on hand for creating the painting are acrylic paint, canvases, brushes, table-top easels, instructional easel, table cloths, water containers, and paper towels.

And of course something to sip and eat.