I love paint nite…read more
HOWEVER.
I went once with artist Rich Seidman at Molly Spilanes. He was full of fun energy and smiles and made the night go smoothly. He instructed easily and I learned good techniques. Even though the "class" is just for fun and not necessarily to learn, I go for the painting, and Rich gave a great class. We looked forward to paint nite again with him as the artist.
I went a second time, again to Molly Spilanes. I love the venue and the area, and chose a different picture - red fall leaves or something. On the paint nite site, the artist should have been Rich again, but instead was Andrea. Maybe she is under pressure from college and whatnot, but her energy was negative. The group was fantastic and my painting came out OK, but there were lots of things I didn;t enjoy and will probably avoid a class if she is the instructor. However, I emailed paint nite because if this is common, booking with one artist and then arriving to find another artist instructing the class, I may avoid paint nite for a short while.
The class started late. It should have been 7pm, but it started at 730pm~ish. Her tone just seemed harsh. Now, i am not all puppies and sunshine myself, but we're there to have fun. The instruction went OK, but we were towards the back and couldn't see that she had painted anything on a canvas to show us - she didn't point it out or hold it up, so we couldn't see above the rows ahead of us. We struggled with technique.
I also noticed - she took liberty and changed her interpretation of the painting we chose online - she said she liked spring better than fall - but I hadn't realized until I went online at the paint nite and saw the painting was changed. I was wondering why it didn't look like what we signed up for. That's fine, because I still came home with a painting I did myself, but I would have liked to see the painting that we chose and then *I* could interperet it how *I* wanted since *I* was the one paying for the class.
At the end, around 9pm, she started talking about how she knows who gives her bad reviews because she can remember our faces (this had to be in jest, but still - not cool), and that if we give her less than a 10 in our survey, she'll lose her 5 star rating. And she'll know who it was because if we come back again she'll remember. Ok.
Then she pointed out the tip jar, and not to feel obligated but she does have student loans. Well, I do too! The way the class ended - her yelling about giving her a good rating and soliciting tips - made me realize it's important to know who will be the artist and to know ahead of time what to expect. I hope she does well on her finals because maybe she was stressed, but I do go for the painting.
I would do this again in the future but in a different venue or borough. We based the decision for this specific paint nite on the venue, the artist, and the painting. and we only left 100% pleased with the venue.