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The Perks of Being an Artist

Tag Archives: sip and paint studio

Sunflower Painting Video

18 Sunday Mar 2018

Posted by emilypageart in art, painting, sip and paint studio, Uncategorized

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

acrylic painting, Artistic Abandon, Emily Page Art, Emily Page artist, instructional painting video, instructional video, painting video, sip and paint studio, sunflower painting

I just realized that I uploaded another instructional painting video about a month ago and never posted it here. So guess what I’m doing? Posting it here. I know. You didn’t see that coming, did you? I’m just full of surprises. Anyway, sit back, eat some nom nom, and watch a painting happen. Or grab a paintbrush and paint along. Either way, enjoy!

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Post-Thanksgiving Painting Video

24 Friday Nov 2017

Posted by emilypageart in art, painting, sip and paint studio, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

acrylic painting, Artistic Abandon, Emily Page Art, instructional video, paint and pour, paint and sip, painting, painting instructional video, painting video, Raleigh artist, sip and paint studio, wine and paint

Hi everyone! Hope you all had a smashing Thanksgiving yesterday, and are now lazing around with bloated bellies until it’s time to dig into your leftovers. To give you an excuse to avoid getting into another political fight with your crazy Uncle Albie, here is another instructional video for one of Artistic Abandon’s paintings, Blue Window.

If you’re interested in licensing our paintings (all of which are copyrighted) for your own paint and sip business or classroom, please contact us at artisticabandon@gmail.com. If you’re a budding artist and just want to paint along at home (not to teach or to sell as your own painting or financially profit from in any way), you are welcome to use this video free of charge. Have fun!

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I’m Still Here, Sort Of

11 Monday Sep 2017

Posted by emilypageart in death, dementia, mental health, sip and paint studio, Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

bourbon, dementia, depression, evil landlord, Fractured Memories, grief, making up words, mental health, moving, moving on, sip and paint studio

It’s been a long time since I last posted. This is partly due to laziness, partly due to being totally overwhelmed by life, partly because it’s the time of year when my depression usually kicks things up a notch, and partly due to the hurricane coverage that has sucked me in. A LOT has happened over the last almost-month that I’ve been an absentee blogger. And as I got farther and farther behind on posting, the harder it’s been to make myself sit down and actually write. So, because I’m out of practice, this post may be total shit. Apologies in advance for shitblogging.

As you may or may not recall, our landlord for our sip and paint studio decided to be a total douchefuck and double our rent. If you missed that post, go back and read it to catch up before you come back and finish this post. I’ll wait (I won’t really wait. I’m not typing this live, as you read it. I shouldn’t have to explain this to you people.).

So, now that you’re caught up, you’ve probably figured out that we did, in fact, close the brick and mortar location. I taught my last in-studio class on the 19th, and then we had 2 weeks to clean the space out, during which I also had to travel to Colorado to train artists for a new sip and paint studio for which we were doing some consulting. ‘Cause there was so much time for THAT. Aaaaaaaagggghhhh! Cleaning the studio out to close down the business completely wouldn’t have been that big a deal, because we could toss, donate, or sell most of the stuff filling the 1400 square foot space. But because we’re still doing mobile events and offering consulting services, we had to keep a lot of it, which means that we had to find storage for it all. Double-aaaaaaaaaaaggggghhhh!

We had to go from this (which doesn’t even show the back rooms which were also choking on art supplies):

full AA class

To this:

empty AA studio.JPG

The room where-art-goes-to-die was already packed to the gills, and we need the space we have in the buildings at the haunt to make more fun things like the creepy trees. So we had to spend a few days emptying everything out of the already packed spaces so that we could put shelving from the studio into them and re-pack them even more. I had to throw out some old art, which isn’t a happy thing to do, but, realizing that they hadn’t sold since college and aren’t really representative of the work I now do, I said “fuck it” and tossed the paintings out. I also renamed the room from “the room where-art-goes-to-die” to “clusterfucklandia.” (I think maybe I’m German or Dutch. I keep combining words to make a newer, longer words. I must have germandutchitis.) A local friend also generously allowed us to store a solid crapton of stuff in the space above his garage, which saved us a whole heap o’ trouble. So we worked it out.

the room where art goes to die

Except for the desk. My dad’s desk. We’d brought it down to serve as our check-in desk at the studio after we put my dad into the dementia care facility. Try as we might, we couldn’t figure out a place to keep it now that the studio is closing, and it was insanely heavy and damn near impossible to get into the back of the pick-up truck for easy moving. It shouldn’t have been a big deal, but for some reason, I got really, really sad at the thought of giving it up. I’m not entirely sure why, but I think that maybe, on a subconscious level, it was a way of having my dad still be a part of a chapter of my life that he’d never see in person. He was contributing to the studio, in a way. And now here I am closing that chapter, and it feels weird that there’s an entire chunk of my life that he never knew, and as I move forward into the next chapter, I won’t even have his desk along for the ride to make him a part of it. It’s silly. I know. It’s just a desk, not my dad. But I just can’t help feeling really sad that I had to let it go.

And then, suddenly, everything was sold or donated or in storage, and I had nothing to do. Except think about that damn desk. And my dad. And now I’m grieving hard again. And, of course, things keep popping up to ensure that I continue to think about it: References on TV; lucky pennies; someone he knew, while growing up, contacting me out of the blue because they read my book; going to a friend’s wedding at which her father said to me, “You know, your dad’s band was supposed to be playing for this,” and at which she and her father danced the father-daughter dance to “What a Wonderful World,” which is what my dad and I danced to at my wedding; cleaning out old emails and discovering a bunch from my dad from his early days with dementia; and on and on. You get the idea. And now I’m reeling a bit and have kind of shut down and hidden from the world for the last little while.

But, as we all know and sometimes like to pretend we don’t, life goes on. And we have plans. All the plans. The best plans. But those plans are for another post. For now, we have bourbon. All the bourbon. The best bourbon. And right about now I’d really like to get all the drunk. But I won’t. I need to save some of the drunk for you, dear reader, because I’m generous like that.

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To The Guy In Line At Security In Front Of Me

10 Thursday Aug 2017

Posted by emilypageart in humor, sip and paint studio, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

awkward conversation, cloaca, humor, i need my coffee, medication, security line conversations, sip and paint studio, things not to say, things to not say out loud

I just got back from a trip to NJ to help a new paint and sip studio open (near Newark in Totowa for anyone who lives in that area http://www.aspirepaintstudio.com/), and am exhausted, but had to tell you about a really weird conversation I had with the guy in line at security in front of me. Keep in mind, I was bleary-eyed and just barely functional, and he decided I looked like the perfect person to chat with, and I really wasn’t feeling it. I couldn’t tell if he was just bored and trying to pass the time, or if he was hitting on me, or what, but I’m not a morning person and I hadn’t had time to stop for coffee and couldn’t have taken it through security anyway and please just leave me alooooooone! Note that I’m avoiding eye contact and giving one word answers whenever possible:

Him: Where you traveling to?

Me: North Carolina.

Him: Why?

Me: It’s home.

Him: Why were you here?

Me: Business.

Him: What do you do?

Me: Artist.

Him: Wow! That’s so cool! Do you make a living at it?

Me: Yup.

Him: Do you live in a house or an apartment?

Me: House.

Him: A big house?

Me: No.

Him: Wow, so you’re really living a charmed life, huh?

Me: I guess.

Him: Hmmm, so do you have any troubles, or if everything perfect?

Me: Everyone has troubles.

Him: How do you deal with them?

Me: Medication.

Him: What medication are you on?

Me: <finally making eye contact> Dude. Am I going to tell you what medication I take?

Him: <nervous laugh> I’m not, like, asking for some of it. Just curious.

Me: No.

Him: But –

Me: No.

WTF? On what planet is it acceptable behavior to ask a stranger what medications they’re on? And how do you not pick up on the fact that I am SO not into this conversation?

To be fair though, there was a bird flying through the airport, and a few minutes later I said, out loud, “That bird has a hole in it’s butt.” No idea why I said it out loud, but the guy said, “Um, all birds have holes in their butts. They have butt holes.” To which I said, “Technically, they have cloacas. But that’s not what I meant. It was missing some tail feathers so I could see daylight through it. I don’t know why I’m saying this out loud…must be my medication.” And then he was off and running and talking to me again, and it was totally my fault because I had spoken out loud to no one in particular. Sigh.

Paris - Tuilleries 8 cropped

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Lipstick for Dogs

23 Sunday Jul 2017

Posted by emilypageart in humor, sip and paint studio, Uncategorized

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

dog photo, pet portraits, sip and paint studio

We offer Paint Your Pet classes at the sip and paint studio that requires customers to email me their pet’s photo in advance so that I can sketch it onto a canvas before they arrive for class. You never know what you’re going to get – we’ve had some strange animals (including a kinkajou and a stuffed teddy bear) in strange settings (on the toilet, mostly hidden under a large chair), and sometimes people wait until the last minute to email me their pics, so there’s no time to consult with them to suggest a different photo. I often have to do some creative editing. For the class I just had, something in the photo really “stuck out” to me, and I wasn’t sure if I should sketch it in or not. You’ll see what I mean:

dog lipstick

 

Now that you’re as scarred as I am, you can go about your regularly scheduled programming.

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F*ck Our New/About To Be Old Landlord

20 Thursday Jul 2017

Posted by emilypageart in sip and paint studio, Uncategorized

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

commercial lease negotiation, commercial real estate, landlords, sip and paint studio, tattoo, work

Remember how I said that I was going through a work crisis? Well, here’s the skinny: The shopping center where my sip and paint studio lives was sold. The new owners are, well, assholes. Our lease is up at the end of August, so in May, we asked the new landlords if we could resign for another year. After a few weeks, they came back to us and said that yes, we could, but they wanted to double our rent. DOUBLE our rent. We counter-offered, and then checked in regularly with the property management company, who kept saying they were still waiting on a reply from the owner. We explained that we needed an answer, even if it was “no,” so that we could start the closing process if necessary, or, if we were going to be able to stay open, order more business cards, renew our insurance, book more parties with customers, etc.

Then the owners of the restaurant next door came over and told us that the landlord had offered our space to them. So we told the property management company that, since we hadn’t heard anything and they had offered our space to the restaurant, that we would be closing when our lease was up.

We received a panicked email from a NEW property management company saying they were sorry that we’d received such poor communication through the prior property management company and asking if we could talk. So we talked and we gave them another week to give us an answer. The week came and went and still no answer. So we announced that we  were closing. A couple days later, the property management company contacted us and said they were still waiting on a response from the owner. Too late.

So, long story long (let’s be honest, that wasn’t long story short), we are closing our paint and sip’s brick and mortar location and going mobile. This is NOT what we had planned. We are in the process of opening a tattoo studio, and there’s just no way that we can open that and relocate the sip and paint studio and start over. The paint and sip studio was going to fund the tattoo studio for the first year and provide some cushion until the tattoo studio was profitable. Now, that’s not going to happen. We can make a little money doing offsite events, but it won’t be anything like what our brick and mortar store brought in. So I’m about to be very broke, very fast. Even worse, I had planned on getting trained to do medical tattooing/permanent makeup, with the goal of being able to help cancer patients who were dealing with eyebrows that didn’t grow back post-chemotherapy and breasts post-reconstruction that didn’t have areolas. But the training is expensive, and I’m not sure how I’m going to fund it now.

So everything is changing and I’m not entirely sure how to proceed – all because some Greedy McFuckfaces don’t care that they’re closing down a small business. So cross your fingers and elbows and toes and knees and eyes that we figure out a viable way forward that doesn’t involve me selling my blood or my soul. Le sigh.

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Aurora Borealis

19 Sunday Feb 2017

Posted by emilypageart in art, painting, sip and paint studio, Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

acrylic, acrylic painting, alaska, art, artist, aurora borealis, night sky, north pole, paint, painter, painting, pine trees, sip and paint studio, sky reflected on water, starry sky, trees reflected on water

My favorite part of owning a paint and sip studio, is creating new paintings each month to teach to our customers. Here’s a recent addition that I think will be a fun one to teach:

Aurora Borealis.jpg

Can’t get to my studio to paint, but love the painting? You can buy a print or other fun swag here.

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A Girl and Her Book

17 Friday Feb 2017

Posted by emilypageart in art, painting, Uncategorized

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

art, artist, funky tree, girl reading, girl reading under tree, girl under tree, inspiration, leftover paint, paint, paint and pour, paint and sip, painter, painting, reading, sihouette, sip and paint studio, swirlie tree, swirly tree, wine and design

Last night at my sip and paint studio, I had a lot of paint leftover on the palettes I had poured for my customers. I hate wasting paint. Hate it. It hurts to toss perfectly good paint, but it’s generally been sitting out too long or has been contaminated with other colors on the palette by the end of class, so it can’t go back into the bottles. So, instead of tossing it last night, I decided to take the leftovers and do a new painting before heading home. Knocked this sweet little one out:

A Girl and Her Book.jpg

Prints and other swag available here.

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Things I Learned/Did In Houston

22 Thursday Dec 2016

Posted by emilypageart in art, culture, health, humor, mental health, sip and paint studio, Uncategorized

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

baby unicorn, concussion, consulting, female figure, Houston, injury, laceration, sip and paint studio, superhero underpants, watercolor, watercolor nudes

On Monday, I flew to Houston to train the staff at a new paint and sip studio, Artistic Experiences. These are the things I learned and did while I was there:

  • When I got off of the plane and entered the terminal, the air was filled with the smells of Chinese food. The woman behind me breathed deeply and exclaimed, “Finally! It smells like Houston!” So, apparently, Houston is known for its Chinese food? I did not eat any while I was there. I did, however, eat my weight in TexMex cuisine.
  • There was white powder all over the inside of my rental car. Ummmmm, okay?
  • My GPS tried to break me, and, indirectly, succeeded. I was staying at a new hotel that doesn’t exist according to my GPS and the internet. So what should have been a 40 minute drive turned into almost 2 hours of driving up Hwy 290 and back down it and back up it and back down it. And it’s all under construction so GPS couldn’t decide if I should be on the frontage roads or on the highway so kept making me weave on and off on each loop. Finally went to the wrong hotel and got directions from them, but I was jittery by the time I made it to the final hotel. In my haste to get to the studio I was already late for, I wasn’t paying attention and mutilated my forehead and eyebrow on the car door. ‘Cause I’m cooridinated like that. Gushing blood, I asked the front desk for a first aid kit (to which the guy replied, “Ew, gross!”), cleaned myself up as best I could then went off to teach for 4 hours. Yeah, you can call me a badass, I don’t mind.
  • The staff at urgent care needs to have their funny bones checked, because I’m pretty sure they’re broken. I went to urgent care the next morning and told them that I got my laceration by saving blind, deaf baby unicorns from a burning building. Baby unicorn horns are sharp! They just said, “That’s nice,” and told me it didn’t need stitches but that I probably had a concussion. My cousin said their comment was really just code for, “We don’t have time for a psych screen.”
  • I couldn’t sleep because of my headache, and TV was sucking, so I did some watercolor sketches. I’m loving experimenting with watercolors when I travel! Easy to transport and clean up, and totally outside of my comfort zone. This is what I accomplished:
  • contemplation
    waiting

Prints are available here and here.

  • If you wear superhero underpants when you fly, your planes will be at least close to on time. Get a pair. Now.

 

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Braaaaaains

24 Saturday Oct 2015

Posted by emilypageart in humor, sip and paint studio

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

brains, eyeball veins, funny sayings, paint, paint your zombie portrait, sip and paint studio, zombies

Things you don’t get to say everyday: “Your eyeball veins are fantastic!”

Zombies 10-24-15

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