Paint & Sip with Laura Cameron at Friday Afternoon Tea

When Friday Afternoon Tea announced their inaugural Paint & Sip event last August, I was delighted.  How could I possibly miss out an opportunity to spend an afternoon doing something creative while drinking copious amounts of tea in one of my favorite Seattle-area tea rooms?

The Paint & Sip events are led by Laura Diane Cameron, a talented local artist and art instructor, and a long-time friend.

Our subject for this event was Starry Night Seattle, Van Gogh with a Pacific Northwest twist.  While most Paint & Sip events are approximately 2 hours in length, this specific event was scheduled for a full 3 hours due to the amount of detail work involved in the painting.  I arrived late due to unusually bad traffic (even for Seattle) and Laura kindly filled me in on the steps I missed at the beginning while checking on everyone's progress.

All attendees were provided with a gallery wrapped canvas, paint brushes, and water-soluble acrylic paints.  The tea room kept us supplied with two types of tea and complimentary refills for the duration of the event so we never ran low on creative fuel.  Some of us also ordered our own pots of tea, because you can never have enough tea.

Laura guided us step-by-step through the painting process, offering tips and suggesting creative and amusing variations like replacing the Seattle skyline and Space Needle with Mordor and the Eye of Sauron.  The group of attendees were great fun and even though I wasn't able to complete my painting by the end of the event, it was definitely time well-spent.

[Unfinished: A tea blogger's first foray into painting]

Check out the Friday Afternoon Event Calendar for upcoming Paint & Sip sessions and many more excellent events!

Laura Cameron provides private painting classes for individuals and small groups by appointment and also leads other Paint & Sip events at venues around the Seattle area.  Visit her website to learn more!