Easel upon easel filled the auditorium of the Tisdale Civic Centre, with all of the occupants looking up front, waiting for instructions.
The first set of instructions included: lift up your paintbrush and your drink – and swear not to say that your painting sucks, or get your neighbour to do it.
That was the scene at the Paint Nite Jan. 21, hosted as a fundraiser for the Tisdale Twisters Gymnastics Club for a building campaign for a permanent location for the club.
Andrea Montes, an organizer, said they decided to have one because it looked like so much fun.
“I’ve seen it done but never experienced it,” said Taya Browning, the club’s coach, “so I thought we would bring it here.”
Kat Moon, one of the artist/facilitators from the Paint Nite franchise in Saskatoon, said the people at the event would be doing a painting called Green Path.
“It’s not really an art class. It’s more of a party with painting,” she said. “We do go step-by-step to break it down for everybody so that they can end up with a painting that is the Green Path painting, but we also encourage people just to play with paint and they can even paint with whatever they want. There are no rules, really.”
The franchise hosts Paint Nites across the province for fundraisers and private events.
Moon said she loves her job and gets to meet interesting people.
“The biggest challenge at Paint Nite is having people come in that haven’t painted since they were in Kindergarten and telling them: we’re not grading you, it’s just a chance to come and play with paint and getting rid of that little bit of anxiety that comes with creating a painting.”
Browning said the event had a huge response.
“We sold out at first and then Paint Nite released 20 more tickets,” she said. “It’s been really awesome to see the community support gymnastics in this way – not just verbally but physically being here and supporting the club.”
The event was also made possible due to contributions by local businesses.
The club will be having registration at the end of February. It also hosts preschool drop-ins and birthday parties.
