I actually don’t know how to begin this post so I’ll just say what it’s all about—I did my first ever painting on canvas a few days ago in Sip & Gogh Kapitolyo branch, and I’m just ecstatic!  I can’t even paint my room and yet I came out with something that looked decent!

When I first heard about Sip & Gogh I wasn’t really that interested.  I mean, I do have interest in the arts, primarily photography and graphic design, but painting—that’s another realm.  Sure I did some “painting” when I was young but they’re mostly for school assignments and project.  But since I’m doing this with my co-workers and it’s something different for a change, I became open to it.

Simply put, Sip & Gogh is a place where you can paint and have some drinks and snacks while doing it.  They offer two different types of snacks (which for some reason I simply cannot remember the names despite being mentioned a number of times) to eat while you paint, together with a drink.  For the drinks, they offer juice, beer, and wine.  I was a bit hungry then so I opted for a non-alcoholic beverage (Four Seasons to be exact) and whatever this snack is called:

We attended what is called an “Open Session.”  Originally I thought that they’re just going to give you the things you need and leave you on your own to paint whatever, but it turns out they are going to guide you through the entire process of painting.  We are free to paint whatever we want, or we could pick any painting that they have in-house for “inspiration.”  There were so many choices and each one of these paintings were made by their own staff.  Apparently, you have to be an artist before you can join their crew, which is quite logical for them to assist us non-painters.

After needlessly thinking for so long on what to paint, I ended up picking one inspired by the masterpiece of the Dutch post-impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh: the Starry Night.

We were given our palettes with paints with colors based on what we’re going to do.  Each of us had two different kinds of brushes and our “inspiration” were placed in front of us for ease of reference.  We were then taught how to draw some rough pencil guide on our canvas based on what we’ll be doing.  We were also taught how to mix water with the paint and how to apply it on the canvas.

As we progressed, we were also taught how to use the different brushes and how to use different strokes.  We also learned how to mix different paint to create different colors for our painting.

I don’t think any of us could be called a skilled painter but with the crew of Sip & Gogh’s guidance, we were doing our paintings much better than we had originally expected!  Everyone was surprised by how everybody else were progressing with their paintings.  Seeing your painting taking shape with every stroke from seemingly nonsense lines to having forms and colors was pretty exciting!  It was definitely much more fun than I thought it would be!  I was enjoying myself quite much that I didn’t really notice my food until I painted more than half of my canvas.

A painting session lasts for about three hours but we never felt we were pressured to finish within that time as the crew of Sip & Gogh patiently guided each one of us with our painting.  They’re even pro-active when it comes to refilling our palettes as they saw fit so there were no occasions that we ran out of paint.  And since what we’re painting and painting skills vary, some of us finished quite quick, while some, like me, took a bit longer.  Still, three hours was more than enough.

At the end of our session, everyone had a smile on their faces!  Who would’ve thought that we can actually paint?  And we didn’t just paint, we actually did something that we’re proud to show off!

Looking back, I really, really love our Sip & Gogh experience.  It’s a fun, creative, and unique experience for everyone!  And at the end of it you get something literally one-of-a-kind that you actually made with your hands and didn’t buy for a change.  Who knows, maybe one day your grandchildren will inherit your painting which by then could cost millions!

To the crew of Sip & Gogh Kapitolyo branch, thank you very much for your patient guidance with us!  You’re all pretty good teachers that’s why despite our painting skills you were able to guide us into making our own masterpieces!  We also felt your warm welcome so we were pretty comfortable while we were painting.  Thank you as well for the nice apron souvenirs that you gave us!  The thing is, now I want to paint some more!  Hope to be back soon!

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Sip & Gogh Kapitolyo branch is located on the second floor of Ace Hotel and Suites, United St., Kapitolyo, Pasig City.  Visit sipandgogh.com for more information.