Learn more about your favorite
CANVAS AND COCKTAILS INSTRUCTORS
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Did you know that Canvas and Cocktails is one of the very first paint and sip studios in the country? It all started with me wanting to prove to my father that I could make a living with my "Art Degree". I love people, I love painting and I love wine- How could mixing the three not be a successful business? Canvas and Cocktails was formed one night in 2008 over a bottle of wine with my girlfriends. I signed a lease in Cherry Creek North in January 2009 and our doors opened in March. Word spread fast about our entertaining art concept and within the next year we expanded our space and started consulting our business concept to studio owners across the country. A few years later we opened a second location and started partnering with bars and breweries to enhance our experience offsite. 10 years later I am still amazed at the fact that I am able to wake up every day absolutely loving what I am doing- and the fact that I proved my dad wrong? Even better!!
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click here for q&A with Rachel
What is your most memorable moment in a C & C class? I was staffing a class where someone was about to propose. Only the instructor and I knew it was about to happen. We played the couple's song "Mess is Mine" and I was recording the whole thing - I think I may have been more excited than the guy! What is your favorite song to get the crowd involved during a class? Wobble baby, wobble baby, wobble baby, wobble. What is your favorite fundraiser? I love that our fundraiser classes can be open to the public and that everyone can to donate to any organization of their choice. One of my favorites has been the Dumb Friends League. Who is your favorite artist? Gustav Klimt What is the best advice you give to your classes? Relax, take a break, come visit me at the bar! :) click here for q&a With Emma
What do you like most about teaching at C&C? Everything! The environment is so positive and upbeat. I love meeting new people, hearing their stories and sharing in their joy. I love that everyone is getting the same set of instructions, but each painting turns out differently- that's the beauty of the world, the uniqueness in each person and the beauty within. What is the best advice to give your classes? Have fun! Have a drink, with good company and good music. The painting will follow suit and turn out great as long as you enjoy yourself! What is your favorite painting to teach? Chubby Owl! They are so darn cute, and people always come up with different color combinations and even add a second owl, or baby owls- it's just adorable and so much fun! What is your favorite song to get the crowd involved during a class? Toward the middle of class I love to pick everybody back up and give them a confidence boost with Journey's "Don't Stop Believing". It really gets people excited and they always sing along! Who is your favorite artist? Gustav Klimt - his use of shape and line are astounding and his color palette is so unique! click HERE FOR Q&A WITH Sarah
What is your favorite painting to teach? My favorite painting is Teal Sunflower because everyone's painting always turns out amazing! Always turn your face towards the sun, that's what sunflowers do! What was your most embarrassing moment in a C&C class? It would have to be the first class I ever taught. I took a step back and tripped right off of the stage! I tried to salvage not falling off by running over the paper roll a couple of times like a log roller. I ended up in the laps of the front row patrons. Definitely my finest moment, but look for more to come!! What is your most memorable moment in a C&C class? I wasn't actually working there yet, and it was my first time in, but my now brother-in-law proposed to my sister there. Everyone was in on it except her, and the staff did a huge toast. It was so much fun! (She said yes, just so you don't wonder) What is your favorite song to get the crowd involved during a class? Any of the songs that people sing along with, such as You're So Vain, or Wild Ones! I call it Canvas and Karaoke. What is the sweetest thing a customer has ever said to you? Some awesome women said if she ever had a daughter, she wanted a daughter just like me. I thought that was so touching, and thoughtful. I'm sure I cried! What is the best advice you give to your classes? Just RELAX! Nobody will judge your talent level and if you have that extra drink it will only make your picture look better! KARLIE NORTON
Littleton, Colorado Click here for Q&A with Karlie
What is your favorite song to get the crowd involved during a class? September by Earth, Wind, and Fire Who is your favorite artist? Elena Petiva What is the best advice you give to your classes? No artist is the same! Everything will turn out great no matter what! What is the nicest thing a customer has told you at Canvas and Cocktails? That I make the best orange juice flavored champagne ever! What is your favorite thing about teaching? Seeing how everyone adapts the painting. Each one is always unique! CLICK HERE FOR A Q&A WITH TESSA
What has been your most memorable moment from a Canvas and Cocktails class? I love celebrating birthdays at C&C! I had a family come in to celebrate a birthday and they were so excited to see their birthday shout out up at the front. The whole family was so energetic and fun! I always feel so lucky to be a part of someone's big day. What is your favorite song to get the crowd involved during a class? "Sweet Caroline" is always a crowd pleaser! Everyone comes together to loudly sing, "bum bum bum" and it instantly ups the energy! Who is your favorite artist? Mark Rothko has always been one of my favorites! His huge color block paintings are so captivating and powerful in person. What is the best advice you give to your classes? To make it your own! I love encouraging painters to add their own flair to their painting, whether that be anything from adding different colors to throwing their pet into the scene. What do you enjoy most about teaching at C&C? I love love love seeing everyone's unique interpretations of the painting. All of our own personalities and experiences come out in our paintings! I really enjoy getting to know each artist (yes, you are all artists :) ) through their work! What was your most embarrassing moment in a C&C class? I was teaching a dandelion painting and I forgot what you call the seeds of the dandelion so I just started making up words- calling them the "lions" or the "dandys." It ended up being a funny joke with the class! HOLLY EDWARDS Aurora, Colorado Click Here for a Q&A with Holly
What is your favorite Canvas and Cocktails painting to teach? My favorite painting to teach is Baby Ostrich or Wacky Alpacky - any of the paintings where the brushstrokes don’t have much rhyme or rhythm to them, it’s so colorful and “go with the flow” feel! What do you enjoy most about teaching? The thing I love most about teaching is the potential to change someone’s bad day into an unforgettable memory and that, in turn, makes my day 10 times better. What is the best advice you give to your classes? My advice is to have fun and not stress about the painting itself. Not even instructors can recreate an exact duplicate of the original painting! That’s the fun thing about art! It’s unique and different just like the artist themselves! What is your favorite song to get the crowd involved during a class? My favorite go-to song is "It’s 5 o’clock Somewhere" by Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffet. It’s a great reminder to take a big gulp in the middle of class and relax, just like a Jamaican vacation! What is the sweetest thing a painter has ever said to you? the sweetest thing a customer has ever said to me was that I was born to do this. Not born to be an exceptional artist, but born to be a humanitarian - doing whatever I can in class for people to have the most stress-free and fun experience possible. click here for Q&A With elyse
What is your favorite painting to teach? I enjoy teaching any painting where there are plenty of "artist choices". I love when everyone can add small things to make the painting truly theirs! I also have a huge appreciation for our "tough" paintings because they foster great confidence when completed. What is your most memorable moment in a C&C class? I love watching the touching, bonding moments in class. I have had a proposal, multiple generations getting together, healing memorials to those we have lost, and celebrations of triumphant recoveries. What is your favorite song to get the crowd involved during a class? CALL ME MAYBE- It's my biggest guilty pleasure song. YMCA is a close runner up. What has been your favorite fundraiser to work with? The Adoption Exchange private party was the most touching class I have ever taught. Prospective parents and children hoping to be adopted participated in a "musical chairs" type class. Fostering an environment where the children possibly met the parents who would adopt them was out-of-this-world rewarding. Who is your favorite artist? Salvador Dali. His works of art are so dream-like and creative. I get whisked away to another place when I look at his work. What is the best advice you give to your classes? RELAX! It is so important to relax (exactly why we serve wine!) while you are painting. Your creativity can come from a more genuine place and not from a place of stress. I always find with my own artwork that the best pieces come when I'm not thinking too much about what I'm creating but I just paint. |