How did you come up with the idea for your business?
I'm an artist by hobby. My husband's family is from Alabama and his sister took me to one of these (painting) places. They're just huge in the south. I was so struck by the idea and his sister had been saying 'you should totally open one of these'. The more I thought about it, the more I thought, 'I think could do this'. I talked to a friend of mine, Susie Grade, and on a whim we decided to do it. We opened in January 2009. It was pretty whirlwind but really fun and it's been great ever since.
What makes you different than other businesses that offer painting classes and alcoholic beverages?
We're an independent retailer, we're smaller, and we really cater to every single person in our studio. We walk around several times. We also encourage you to come up and ask questions. What we hear from people is that we're not so crowded so it just feels very different. We're more laid back but still really fun. We're much more urban vibe. We don't sell any other products except for frames.
What inspires your artwork?
The major artists that are famous like Van Goh and Monet, those are not copyrighted and not hard to do. Sometimes I get inspiration from greeting cards, and famous landmarks. You can paint images of anything well-known like the Taj Mahal and they're not copyrighted. Our culture is so image dense right now that images are just transferred so quickly with the internet and it's not hard to come up with ideas. If we can paint it an hour we can teach it in two hours. Although what's interesting is that people don't believe that.
How does it make you feel when someone who didn't think they could paint leaves your studio with a sense of accomplishment?
I love that. I love making people feel safe and challenging them. So often people will think that it's hard and it's not nearly as hard as they think it is. Other times something they think might look easy might be a little harder. It's very life-giving. As people engage the right side of the brain they discover something about themselves. I will train Qwest engineers, they come in just sweating they are just a wreck. The reason the managers bring them in is because people that engage the right side of the brain are more creative problem solvers, they're usually better managers.
You're an advocate for art classes being taught in schools. Why do you think that's important?
It's not because they love art or even that they're expert artists. A group of five year olds all will plan to be artists, and then as they get older it's like half and then by the time you're 15 it's about one or two in a class of 30 will say 'I'm an artist'. Where did that spirit go? I was told in sixth grade to never paint again by my art teacher. She told me I was bad because I didn't follow the rules the right way at the time. I was one of hundreds of kids that were told that. I could have stopped and I didn't.
Why did you choose to open your business in the Highlands?
We both live in the city of Denver, so we definitely wanted to be in the city and we're both kind of urban. We didn't want to be open all the time because we're just open for classes. It's been a great space, we love it.
Do women account for most of your clientele?
We really engage a large male audience. Our demographic is about 25 to 60 year old people and we still have more women than men. On a Friday night like a date night sometimes we'll have at least half the studio is dates. And it's because they can kind of be intimate. Guys like to paint just as much as women, it's not like this is a women thing. And we work at our paintings to be friendly to both genders.
What advice do you have for people who are nervous about trying their hand at painting?
If they think it's hard, it's not as hard as they think it is. Especially as adults, it's just good to not get like 'this is what I do and this is what I don't do'. You never know. I've had people come into class and then they go and start painting and they're selling their paintings. I think that's so cool.
More information: http://www.sippingnpainting.com
