I planned this adventure as a surprise for Doc. Friday, Doc and I went to Pinot Palette in Tulsa on Cherry Street. They are opening a second location closer to us on the Jenks River Walk soon, which I am thrilled about.
So here is how this place works. You pick a class you want to go to. You pick based on the painting. Their website has a calendar that shows what paintings are available when. You do have to make a reservation ahead of time.
They have a bar in the studio, but no food. You are welcome to bring your own and a large number of people did. We stopped off at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory in Tulsa and bought several truffles to take along to the class (because Chocolate is fantastic with wine). Other brought baked goods, pizzas, food picked up nearby on Cherry Street, etc. They have tables you can put your food on with a label and you are welcome to get up and snack or eat through out the class. It’s pretty informal.
The bar had small selection of beer and wine, coffee, and tea. Water bottles are available at no charge.
They give you an apron to wear and you find your assigned seat. If you make your reservation together, you are seated together. If you don’t, you just need to let them know ahead of time who you are wanting to sit with and they will work it out.
Your seat has a palette with all the paint you will need. For our painting we had two brushes. An artist stands at the front of the room (and they are mic’ed so don’t worry about not being able to hear). They go step by step explaining how to create the painting. Another artist walks around while the instruction is going on to offer help if you are confused or feel lost and the main instructor takes lots of breaks to offer assistance as well.
Now, they take you step by step to create the painting you signed up for, but there was a lot of “not following directions going on”. Some people took off and created mountainscapes in their background, someone decided to do a cubist version of the painting, someone decided to paint a coral reef…and no one cares. So it’s really informal and fun.
Now we went as a date, but let me say that this wasn’t a “date night” only activity. There were several groups of friends that were there. I would say there were forty people or so and maybe ten of them were on dates.
Pinot Palette does fun family paint days or kid paint days too. Ages 6 and up can enjoy this so when I go back to work I’m definitely going to promote this as an activity the kiddos can go do to break up “movies” or “eating out” or “the zoo”.
Overall, we had a blast. Doc and I both really enjoyed the whole evening and I was pleasantly surprised by how good of a time everyone there was having. There is a wonderful vibe at this place and I highly recommend it.
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