Things have been crazy for the past few weeks and when they do get crazy, it’s always useful to have a different creative outlet to refresh yourself.

Thanks to Groupon, my friend and I got a session at Art Jam at Arteastiq for only $28 (the usual price is $48 though they have different packages such as two-for-one romantic Mondays). This includes one drink, a 50 x 50 cm canvas and brushes to take home as well as free flow acrylic paint.

They provide books and pictures if you want to pick a reference. Alternatively, you could email them a picture for them to print out on the spot.

Admittedly, this was the first time I have painted on a cotton canvas (or painted properly at all) so the experience was a teeny bit more stressful at the start. Or at least until my favourite whiskey hot chocolate drink was served.

So here’s my first attempt at painting some flowers. The purple didn’t come out as bright as I’d liked cos clearly navy blue + red doesn’t equal to bright happy purple…

Just a quick tip – it’ll definitely be useful to think about where your light source is. Or rather, you should definitely plan how you paint things in advance rather than dab on random gradients which I did! :X

And of course, plan your background before you start! I only decided to paint it a lighter colour on a whim and that resulted in much pain in filling everything in carefully. Love the seafoam green though!

Would have painted the sides of the canvas a different colour if I had more time. When asking my friend if I should paint them in the first place, she quoted her AEP teacher in Secondary School telling her that it should look beautiful on all sides. That definitely applies to many other things in life!

When done, the peeps at Arteastiq staple your canvas frame into a handy box that allows it to dry without touching anything. (The photo actually shows me holding it altogether afterwards cos I got too excited in ripping it open and forgot to take a photo!)

So there we go, my very first canvas painting experience. :) Would recommend everyone to try it out whether you think you’ll be good at it or not just because it’s fun, relatively affordable and a great opportunity to try something new!