A few weeks ago, I invited my friend Erica to happy hour. Instead of the usual, she suggested we try doing a paint and wine night! Paint nights have been a growing trend in LA – studios or bars open up at night to teach amateurs how to paint. At studios, the paint nights are Bring Your Own Wine – they open them for you and provide you with glasses. Some paint nights are held at bars and restaurants, and you can purchase drinks there.

I heard painting and wine and figured there was nothing not to love! So we bought tickets to Paint & Sip Studio Los Angeles on a Wednesday night.

We chose this particular date because of what we’d be painting – a bottle of wine with a wine glass on a wooden table. You can see the calendar about a month or two in advance, complete with a photo of what you’ll be painting and the prices. However, these paint nights sell out almost immediately so you need to really plan far in advance!

Paint & Sip Studio is in La Brea, so I headed over after work. Free street parking in Mid-City starts at 7 p.m. and paint night started at 7:30 p.m., so that worked out great! Erica and I each brought a bottle of wine and settled in.

With your ticket, you’re given a canvas, a mini easel, and all the supplies you’ll need (paint, brushes, cups, water, aprons, etc.). After donning our paint-splattered aprons (and taking photos), the instructor got to work.

We were lucky to have an AMAZING instructor – I’m not sure what his name was – but he was super cool and funny and played classic rock songs. He walked us through sketching and painting the art step-by-step and came around to give one-on-one instruction and advice on how to improve our masterpieces.

Everyone painted the same thing, except for the labels of the bottle, which we were free to design ourselves. I chose to do a Mondrian print and Erica found a beautiful floral design on Google Images that she replicated.

At the end of the night, you’re free to take your creation home! Sitting around for 3 hours painting, drinking wine, hanging with friends, meeting new people and listening to good music was some of the best fun I’ve had in a long time! I can’t wait to go again.

You can go to Paint & Sip Studio’s website to look at the calendar and buy tickets. You can also find tickets for Paint & Sip and other similar paint night companies on LivingSocial and Groupon!

Disclosure: This post is not associated with Paint & Sip Studio Los Angeles in any way. I received no compensation for this post.