Last year I experienced a sip & paint for the first time thanks to a good friend and fellow entrepreneur, Terry Ann Walker (TW Home Essentials). She asked me to lead a sip and paint for her non profit organization, Power of 5. I had never attended one before. I paint at home and in the studio all the time so I had never thought of what it would be like to go to a sip & paint and have someone lead me through painting. It was sooooooo much fun! Once I got my first taste of leading a sip & paint I was hooked.
Sip & Paint's are a versatile and intimate social experience. They are essentially painting classes that include food, wine (BYOB), music, and all supplies necessary to create a painting to bring home. We cater to small or large groups and our customers include non, novice and experienced painters.
I honestly had no idea how popular and fun sip & paints would become. Now I look forward to having Sip & Paint events because of the creative energy that comes from them. The events have helped me to become a better artist and business woman. We come up with custom pieces all the time specifically catered to our clients and have come up with some really unique themes that continue to grow. It hasn't been smooth the whole way but we are learning every day. Janelle and I had a lot of business growth through this process as well as in our personal lives.
We started with just standard 16X20 canvas and had at least three pre-painted pieces for the group to choose from; the majority wins. We don't force anyone to choose any particular painting we've just found that it is easier for someone who has never painted to have a visual foundation for their creations. Now we paint on canvas, wine glasses, and we are venturing into some other mediums as well.
Sip & Paint events have been popular for a while but they were not really in my thought process. I have been so busy with body painting, face painting, traveling, murals, and canvas work etc.I hadn't really thought of them as a business prospect.I share a studio space with Janelle Gordon and Kedon Beckford of KBPhotoart. I went to Janelle and revisited our conversation about events to host in the studio. It was decided that we would bring sip & paints to Studio 208.
Along this journey I started attending a course called WIBO; it's purpose is to help entrepreneurs along their journeys in creating their business (brand) and teach the most crucial parts of business such as marketing, finances and customer services. For this course we were asked to focus on only one area of our business if we offered multiple services.As an artist I offer lots of different services so it was tough to narrow it down. Our sip & paints were going really well so I decided to hone in on them specifically.
At the time of attending this class the Sip & Paint events were not really a part of my business portfolio. This course and Janelle's experience in marketing launched our brand "Studio 208 Sip & Paint". Studio 208 is the Studio in which we host Sip & Paint events as well as many other services. I didn't really think in all of the time we have spent there as studio partners that we would create a brand together but that's exactly what happened. Janelle and I are still individual artists but the Sip & Paint events are something that we manage together.
The events vary in size and not always at the Studio208 location because we also offer travel services as well. They have now become such a stepping stone that we have actually created new venues outside of the studio.