Instructor Emily Hopper, right, offers advice to Jessica Strickland during a Spirited Art painting class.
Katie Ward applies basecoat to her canvas during a Spirited Art class, where bringing your own beverage is not only allowed, it’s encouraged.WHERE TO BYOB* Spirited Art: 1925 Gunbarrel Road, Suite 115. 531-6278. www.myspiritedart.com/locations/chattanooga* Gogh Paint & Party: 3260 Brainerd Road. 697-1823. www.goghpaintnparty.com* ArtsyU: 5084 South Terrace, Suite 15. 321-2317. www.artsychattanooga.com* Brush Paint and Sip Studio: Mobile unit, no physical studio. 504-9053. www.brushpaintandsip.com
Sitting at an easel during a group painting class at Spirited Art on Gunbarrel Road, I was faced with a crisis of artistic conscience.
Studio owner and instructor Emily Hopper was patiently guiding me and my 27 classmates through each step of recreating the evening’s subject: a “super cute” bird nest on a peaceful, baby-blue background.
The instructions were extremely detailed, making for a process involving only slightly less hand-holding than a paint-by-numbers kit, but Hopper encouraged us to feel free to take artistic license whenever we felt inclined.
“[Your painting] by no means has to look like ours because art is an individual thing,” Hopper explained to me while setting up each station before the class. “We have people change things about the painting constantly, and we encourage creativity.”