Getting Creative

I know that Tuesday afternoons are usually reserved for Dream Home... and I do have one coming next week in California, but some things came up recently the delayed my putting the post together. Instead, I'd liket o share with you the artwork that B and I created this past weekend.

On Saturday B and I had a little date night to go and check out Paintlounge up in Markham. You may remember reading about them when Shannon wrote a post about visiting with her son. After reading it, I knew I had to visit... especially since I was planning on creating some of my own artwork for our living room. Then, when I received an email from Beverly, one of the two owners, inviting me up to check them out, I knew that I needed to make a trip that way and a date night with B was planned.


Saturday after dropping our guestroom mattress off to it's new owner, we headed north to Markham and popped into Paintlounge where we met up with one of the two owners Samantha. Samantha was so sweet and welcoming and took us on a quick tour of the facilities before we got down to business.


Paintlounge is not just an art studio, but also a cafe. They offer a great selection of sandwiches, baked goods, coffees, teas and other hot and cold beverages. (Samantha recommended a delicious fruity decaf tea for me that I really enjoyed while getting my paint on).

The atmosphere is perfect for sitting back and relaxing with some friends and munching on some goodies - either after painting, or if you just wanted to stop in for a place to hang out.

Samantha explained to me that those great green canvas' you see there are communal pieces of artwork. Guests can pay $2 for a square on the canvas and paint what they'd like. It's very cool to see all of the creative ideas that people come up with. My favorite are the panda's in the lower left corner of the canvas on the left! Very cute.

Of course, the most important area is their fantastic studio area, with all of the supplies...

We each picked out our canvas' (B choosing and extra-small and myself a small). I already had an idea of what I wanted to do, but B needed a little bit if inspiration. Samantha showed us a great book that she loves for inspiration and it really got the wheels turning for B.

Then we both got to work painting up a storm...

The music was great to paint away to, and as we worked away a family of four came in. They bought a couple of large sized canvas' and Mom and one son worked on one, and Dad and the other son worked on the other. They planned on putting them in the kitchen and they seemed to have a great time working away. It really is the type of place for everyone!

As we painted, I did a bit of chatting with Samantha to find out more about how Paintlounge came to be. She let me know that both her an Beverly are artistically inclined, Samantha more interested in painting and Beverly in graphic design. They started talking and brainstorming and with Samantha aspiring to open an art studio and Beverly dreaming of opening a cafe - Paintlounge was born... and am I ever glad that it was! Even B who tagged along to please me, said that he had a really great time getting artistic.

So what kind of artwork did we each create? Well, I worked away on a piece to hang in our living room...

While my wonderful B got busy painting a little some for our little peanut's nursery...

Cute right? My favourite is his blue and orange giraffe... and that little lamb in the right corner. 

We haven't yet hung either of our paintings in their proper homes yet, but of course I will share as soon as we do.

I'd completely recommend hitting up Paintlounge... whether it's for a date night, a girls night or a family outting, you're guaranteed to have a great time. I'm already thinking of the night time I'll go. Are you ready to get your paint on?