Follow-Up to my Paint-and-Sip post.

This post has been updated!

The most popular post on my blog recently has been my Confessions of a Paint-and-Sip Instructor post, where I give a little information about teaching recreational painting parties.

**DISCLAIMER--- this is one of ONLY A FEW articles online that is NOT part of an advertisement or website for an actual currently functioning social painting business. 
Please see my previous post (linked above) for a my past experience/credentials working with franchises and on my own. 

It has had over 10,000 views as of this last time I just checked it (not much for the internet but way more than anything on this personal blog o' mine! and twice as many views as any other post here) and I have received many many emails asking for advice from artists wanting to work for these businesses or set up their own versions of these models. I have also found more online information so I felt like writing a followup post to report back... thanks for reading and giving me the reason to write this!

The thing that was asked most often of me in comments and emails had to do with money. Who makes how much and stuff. Who *should* make how much et cetera. There are multiple comments on my previous post flat out asking "how much did they pay you?"

My answer has always been the same. Make a budget and a business plan. Know your local laws. Most of the homework has been done for you and the decision making is the part leftover.
Also... if you really need a dollar amount without doing ANY work on your own, go to an interview for a franchise paint-and-sip company and just ask what they pay. You will be answered with some numbers and either like this response or not, and proceed with your goals.
*also if you read the previous post I DID disclose how much I spent on startup costs, which if anything just show how easy it is to try this and either succeed, fail, or "meh" out of it back to where you started. 

Now for the fun stuff, after I have made it all seem so easy.
Here's an image of search terms that led people to my previous post.

blog stats top search phrases- part of a screen capture from February 2015 

Notice someone found me when they searched "paint and sip-going broke"??? That probably means absolutely nothing.  The "how to teach" query is interesting too...  Why would skilled artists who want to teach need to look online for "how-to" articles or demos?

Here's a comment from Harriet Estel Berman's blog post about casual copying of works that includes the popular painting party and it's seemingly plausible deniability...

while it's usually okay to use masterworks whose copyrights have expired in these painting parties, it is often an infringement to just find a painting one likes off Etsy or Pinterest and copy it exactly for commercial gain, and the original owner of the rights to the image may seek damages depending on the scope of the infringement. 


Here's a BIG tip that costs absolutely nothing for me to tell you. 
Do you want to use a logo or trademarked/copyrighted image in your painting party demos?
Go to the owner of the image (or the contact person for that entity) and JUST ASK.
Literally the worst thing they can do is tell you "NO", and asking is more appreciated than appropriating without permission.  For example, I learned last year that both the major "Big 12" universities in my state (who have huge fan followings) allow licensing of their trademarked imagery and phrases for an annual fee about the size of my summer electric bill.



I guess the final thing I have to say on this is... Paint-and-Sip is not Cut-And-Dry. The current model is basic, and we have the ability to turn it into so much more without borrowing from what anyone else is doing. I used to hear from guests that they visited different painting party businesses to get diversity, but if every studio is painting the same chandelier, or cityscape, or shoe or flower vase etc... there are even less options for patrons. 

One of our local studios has been having a "Drink and Draw" for as long as I can remember and there is no formal instruction, just getting together for some fun arting times. There are studios for printmaking and even glassblowing and pottery that have "open studio" days in this city where one can experience art in other forms. They still make great parties and team-building exercises- we now have stuff in our city like the Elaborate Collaborate that does exquisite corpse style collaborations and this could easily be expanded to experiential art.

Anyway... I guess my main point is this-

As creatives we can take this very simple model and make it even more creative. Like the step-by-step cake mix in a box as compared in the previous post and another article on the subject, wanting to confine to these parameters already set is an inside-the-box way of thinking... but there are so many additional opportunities to make each art experience unique for a community.







****NOTE:   Comments have been disable for this post, because lately I have only been receiving spam and advertisements like "hey I can submit my art for your painting business!" and "Hey I have a paint and sip business book your party with MEEEEE!".... and that is NOT what this blog post and/or any related post(s) are about at all. If you have questions I have given lots of resources here and have written a followup post. If you want to hire me for consulting on your paint party business (as I have received many questions in email form that have taken much of my time from my regular art practice, and too many to answer for free/without a loss of regular income) my contact information is on the sidebar of this blog and on my main website linked in the header of this blog. Thank you for reading. ****