by Ardeana Hamlin
of The Weekly Staff
Artist and teacher Wendy Libby, who teaches art Fruit School in Bangor, has launched Paint4All, a business that aims to release the creative spirit in anyone who has a yen to pick up a paintbrush and apply paint to canvas.
“When we were in Boston to visit my son on his birthday, he surprised us with tickets to a paint night,” she said. The tickets, it was explained to her, were not easy to get. There were waiting lists. Tickets for paint nights sold out quickly. The idea was that a group of people would be in one room together and they would all paint the same picture. Libby said she had never heard of such a thing before, but was told it was a trend in Boston and Portland.
Libby, who has 36 years of teaching experience and doing her own art work, said she thought the paint party would be fun.
“We went and it really was fun,” she said. “I had a great time. It brought so many people from different places together.” It connected people who might otherwise not meet one another, she said.
The experience got Libby to thinking. “I thought that since Bangor is focusing so much on the arts it would be fun to try it here,” she said. But she wanted to put her own spin on it. She wanted to hold the painting parties in public places, such as restaurants. Which meant that in order for her business to succeed it would depend on the interest of area business owners. So far, she said, Hero’s, Seasons, Ipanema and the Sea Dog restaurants have expressed interest.
“I’m pleased that area businesses want to come on board,” Libby said. “Without their backing I couldn’t do this.”
Next she knew, 18 people had signed up for a Paint4All session at Hero’s. Participants pays $35 for the two-hour session, which includes acrylic paints, brushes,a 16-inch by 20-inch stretched canvas and an easel. Disposable aprons will be available. Each participant will paint winter trees, flowers, a snowman, apples or eight other subject choices, and will leave with a finished painting. They also will have the opportunity to purchase food and drink from the host restaurant.
“I will give them the steps,” Libby said of Paint4All participants, “but I will try to open it up more to creativity — if they want to try something else, they will be encouraged to do that. Paint4All is a safe, step-by-step platform where [participants] can come up with their own creative ideas for the painting everyone else is doing. Everyone’s [painting] doesn’t have to look the same. There will be no one judging it. It’s a place to have a good time, a good place to try painting if you have never done it before.”
As an art teacher, Libby’s hope for her Paint4All participants is the same as her hope for her young students and her elderly students at the Sylvia Ross Assisted Living Center in Bangor.
“I hope they will take away the idea that they do have creativity and that we all can be artists, that they can communicate visually,” she said.
The painting party schedule and subject to be painted is:
• 6:30-8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 21, Hero’s, Snowman.
• 6:30-8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 4, Ipanema Bar and Grill, Blazing Red Trees.
• 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 10, Seasons, Birch Trees.
• 6:30-8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 11, Hero’s, Tree of Life.
• 6:30-8:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 11, Hero’s, Apples.
• 1-3 p.m. Saturday, March 28, Hero’s, Daisy.
For information about attending a party or serving as a venue, go to paint4all.net.