A Brilliant Stroke

Wendy LoVoy Original

From stick figures to masterpieces – popular Sips n Strokes unleashes the artist within

Girls’ Night Out just got a facelift.

Don’t worry, the old standbys – movies, shopping, spas – all still welcome your patronage. It’s just that you may not want to settle for the old romantic comedy when you can instead put your mind and your hands to work creating something that you can take home and hang on your wall.

That’s the concept behind a rapidly growing business known as Sips n Strokes, a business which has no shortage of gals (and a few guys) looking to enjoy their night out doing something a bit different for a change.

Founded by Birmingham artist Wendy LoVoy in 2003, Sips n Strokes offers customers a blank canvas, a bottle of wine and a one-of-a-kind art lesson.  For an average cost of $20-$45, patrons of Sips n Strokes can learn to paint everything from flowers, crosses and human figures to replicas of famous paintings by Georgia O’Keeffe, Edvard Munch and Vincent Van Gogh.  No artistic experience or ability is required – LoVoy believes even those who can only draw stick figures can become artists if given the chance.  That’s why she created Sips n Strokes – to empower would-be artists who otherwise would never dare to pick up a brush.

Since 2003 Sips n Strokes has expanded from its original location on Hwy 280 to locations in Pelham, Trussville, Auburn, Fultondale, Tuscaloosa, Dunwoody and East Cobb, Georgia, and Franklin, Tennessee. The Tuscaloosa location, which opened in May 2009, is the first Sips n Strokes franchise. With a tall exposed brick wall and track lighting lining its high ceiling, the Tuscaloosa store looks like an art gallery. Completed paintings pose on stands and hang about the walls, and the night of a class, long tables are set with easels and canvases, brushes and stools.  There’s a buzz about the place as customers arrive for a class, giggling and hugging with a slight charge of nervousness to their exchanges.  For most people, that nervousness disappears as they watch their own hand creating a real work of art, but for those who can’t shake the nerves, well, that’s what the wine is for.

Not everyone partakes in the alcohol, says Kara Lindsey, who opened the Tuscaloosa franchise with her mom, Vicki Meads, and her sister, Katie Lindsey.  In fact, says Lindsey, most customers don’t drink at all. “People come for the painting experience,” she says.  “The option to drink is an added bonus but not the focus for most people.”

Most customers are indeed intently focused on two spots: their canvases, and the front of the room, where the instructor platform rises two feet above the floor. Amiable and reassuring, instructors like Tuscaloosa’s Haley Spaulding demonstrate step by step how to blend colors, hold brushes and create shapes and forms.  Atop the platform Spaulding encourages her students to relax and not be afraid of the brush and paint.  She wants to impart more than just technique – she wants the class to enjoy painting as much as she does. Teaching at Sips n Strokes is a dream come true for Spaulding, who’s been painting since she was a little girl.  “It’s been said that if you can find a job doing what you love to do, then you’ll never work a day in your life.  That’s what teaching at Sips n Strokes is like,” she says.

By Lindsay Hubbard

The customer experience is just as enthusiastic. People walk out bubbling with excitement and awe. Lindsay Hubbard, Branch Manager and Consumer Loan Officer at First United Security Bank in Bucksville, says she’s been to Sips n Strokes approximately 19 to 20 times, and each time has been fun and awe-inspiring.  “It is exciting to see that you can “create a masterpiece”!  The instructors always use that phrase, and I have never seen anyone leave unsatisfied,” says Hubbard.

Hubbard says the satisfaction lasts long after the class because she is able to give the paintings as truly personalized gifts to her family, plus the ones she keeps to decorate her house are constant reminders of fun times with friends.  “I write who I go with on the back of all my paintings,” she says.  “I have great memories from all the classes.”  Hubbard says a bonus for her is the reaction people have when they see her paintings.  “I had never painted on a blank canvas before going to Sips n Strokes for the first time, but now people will be at my house and say, “Oh my, did you really paint this?”  The step by step process makes it to where everyone goes home with a great picture,” she says.

Pick out your masterpiece and sign up for a class online at www.sipsnstrokes.com.

By Bonnie Bailey       www.bonniebailey.net

Tags: Sips n Strokes Birmingham, Sips n Strokes Franchise, Sips n Strokes owner Wendy LoVoy, Sips n Strokes Tuscaloosa

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 at 4:59 am and is filed under Arts, Business, Crafts, Local News, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.