How We Came To Teach In Person And Virtual Paint and Sip Parties

Learn about Debbie and Allan's qualifications and experience in art and education.

Yesterday I wrote a blog called, 5 things you didn’t know about Paint and Sip Memberships, so thought you might want to know a little bit more about how Allan and I became Paint and Sip hosts and what qualifies us to teach art and our Virtual Paint and Sip courses.

In the early 00s, Allan and I both studied Fine Art at the University of Western Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. Once we completed that degree, we added a Teaching degree too. We taught in classrooms in Western Sydney NSW, North Coast NSW, Rural Queensland, NC USA and on the Gold Coast Qld before resigning from teaching and opening up our own art studio in Oxenford called Read Art Academy.

We loved teaching children and teenagers but realised after 20 years of teaching in a classroom that we would both be a lot happier if we followed our dreams and creative passion.

After a long time of not creating anything, Allan picked up a paintbrush again and started to paint with oil paint and acrylics every single day. He created day-in and day-out and every day that he created, his confidence and wellbeing improved. Finally, after a year and a half of Allan painting while I created in acrylics and mixed media we decided to share our art with the world.

We started out teaching small group paint classes in our garage. Word started spreading around the local community and we needed to expand. We didn’t have the funds to rent a space so we approached restaurants and bars asking if we could host paint parties in their venue on a quiet night.

We sent out 3 emails a day and managed to book in a few different places. We held Watercolour Painting Classes and Acrylic Paint and Sip Classes because they were perfect for beginner artists. We charged $59 a person for a 16x20 stretched canvas with all supplies and tuition and the venues had our customers purchasing drinks and food on their quiet nights - so everyone was happy with the arrangement.

Eventually, we had saved enough money to start looking for a studio space to call our own. We had big dreams and wanted to make a living from art. We searched for about 3 months and finally found a 70sqm space to rent. Unfortunately, it was during COVID-19 and we faced 2 lockdowns within the first 3 months of opening. Just when we thought things were improving we were hit with Omicron and people stayed indoors afraid to catch the new wave of the virus.

It was during COVID-19 that we knew we had to start making online courses. So, we researched and started creating content. It took a long time to build up but we again did it all on our own. We made individual Virtual Paint and Sip courses costing $20 for 1 painting with a supply list, tracer stencil, video and step-by-step instructions and we made a Virtual Paint and Sip Subscription Membership for $29 per month or $299 annually which currently has over 60 original acrylic paintings for our creative subscribers to paint or use to teach their own Paint and Sip Parties.

We continued in the art studio and introduced private painting classes in watercolour, oils and acrylics. Held a weekly Art Club for children and teenagers, began Tutoring English, Maths and Home School Support sessions. We had a year of support experience and began holding Art for Wellness creative sessions. I also began studying for my Diploma of Art Therapy during this time.

Today, Allan works in our art studio and holds in-person art and educational classes while waiting out COVID-19 and I am focusing on virtual content because who knows when the next wave is going to hit, right? Spending 20 years in the classroom has made transitioning to online content fairly easy. Of course, we had challenges along the way but we were always able to work through them.

So that is us! It is proof that if you believe hard enough, are organised, proactive and good at problem-solving you can make your dreams a reality and work for yourself doing something that you love.

We used New Zenler to host all of our courses and have been super impressed with the platform. I have included a link for anyone thinking of making their own online courses.

If you would like to learn more about painting or about joining our Virtual Paint and Sip Subscription Membership, then click the link to see our courses. We're sure you will love them!

Learn 5 things that you never knew about Virtual Paint and Sip Memberships here!

Categories: : Paint and Sip, virtual paint and sip