The creative juices really seem to be flowing in some of the dining venues in the UAE – but not in the way you might think.
A crop of new art groups are using these venues as their canvas, if you like, on which guests can indulge their palates as they paint from a palette.
For the past 12 months, Paint & Sip events, organised by JS Entertainment and Fairy’s Creations, have been held twice a month at restaurants and cafes across the country.
At the Appaloosa bar in Abu Dhabi's Marriott Hotel Al Forsan, 25 women sit at easels, with a mocktail in one hand and a paintbrush in the other, as art teacher Fay Sherwood tells them on how to paint their impressions of Monet's Water Lillies.
It is not something you expect to see in a bar at 7pm on a Thursday night. Like most of the women who have come along to paint, Laura Krause, a German mother of two, considers herself as a beginner.
“I’m not artistic in the slightest, so this is a real novelty for me,” she says. “I spend a lot of my time getting out the playdough and paint for my kids at home, but at the end of the day, I pack it all away ... and never think actually that I might enjoy it, too.”
Sherwood, a Canadian expat who is wearing an apron decorated with an image of Van Gogh's The Starry Night, reassures her beginner painters not to worry.
“Not everyone can draw but anyone can come out of here with a decent painting,” she says.
Sherwood taught Paint & Sip-style events for seven years in California before moving to Abu Dhabi. The concept began in the United States 13 years ago and has spawned a range of businesses in the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia which arrange nights out that combine food, drink and music with the joys of painting.
“The advantage of painting in a restaurant is that you get people turning up who wouldn’t otherwise dare to try it,” says Sherwood. “It is usually women attending. They come because they want to do something different, besides hang out in a mall or go to a movie.”
Another practical art event that can be found in local restaurants is Design & Dine, the brainchild of northern-Irish artist Gemma Gallagher.
“When my friends in the UAE saw my paintings, they asked if I could teach them to paint,” she says.
“I decided that if I was going to teach them, I wanted it to be fun and informal, so I set up Design & Dine.”
She now gets about 100 budding artists at each event.
“The concept of painting and getting creative as part of a night out has grown hugely in popularity,” she says.
Gallagher runs two events a month at the Novotel Abu Dhabi Gate hotel and Abu Dhabi’s Crowne Plaza, and at various Jumeirah properties in Dubai.
“The age range varies and we have many nationalities, which makes it great for socialising.,” she says. “We have guests who come in groups of friends or colleagues, as couples – and quite often people come by themselves to make new friends.”
For her next event, Gallagher is going further, pairing the artistic theme with a choice of food.
“Guests will be treated to special Asian-themed cuisine and cocktails, as they learn to create a beautiful Asian landscape,” she says.
So what is enticing people who haven’t picked up a paintbrush since childhood to get into art?
“People want to feel creative because it is such a stress release,” says Sherwood, who previously worked as a family therapist.
“I know all about things you can do to calm your mind and being creative is definitely one of them.”
artslife@thenational.ae
