Painting With A Twist
My Experience with PWAT, or as it’s fully called, Painting With A Twist.
Originally I found the call for Artists on Indeed and thought that it was completely a scam. Who wanted actual Artists for a painting job that wasn’t Interior Design? I figured it couldn’t hurt and answered the call.
They explained it was going to be a job where I had to bring a portfolio and demonstrate my skills.
>_>
WELL that wasn’t going to be too difficult so I went to the interview.
I had one painting from college that half way landed me the position.
Then the awkward part.
I was handed a paintbrush and given all the materials required. In front of me was a standing easel and they gave me a picture and asked me to paint it as fast as possible, but explain everything as I went.
WELL…
I was terrified because SPEED painting is way way different from normally just painting a picture. That college project gave a week of time to paint our chosen images and I had 15 minutes.
I did what I could, but despite very barely visibly shaking I still went with it and did what I could. The second thing that landed me the job was that I “appeared” to be completely comfortable and managed to do what I came to do without missing a beat.
Truthfully I was terrified right? So I even told the guy “No, I was shaking the whole time.” And he said “But I didn’t see it.”
So then in accepting the job I had only one big requirement that scared me beyond anything I’d already been through.
(Keep in mind at this point I was only living in Alabama for a year already.)
Then I had to go to Louisiana for training. …What?
The four of us who were originally hired had to take a trip together to Mandeville, LA. The trip was paid for, but I was so scared I had to ask a friend to come with me.
Anyways, while I was at training during the day she was chillin at the Hotel room. She was a trooper.
At the end of it all we did something unimaginable. We got paid. Then went out to Mardi Gras. IN LOUISIANA.
It was definitely scary but with the four of us walking around as a group I felt much safer. It was honestly fun, and awesome to see an event like that in the flesh.
So I went and met the owners of the PWAT company and got trained in Entertainment. I started working them in 2015, and left at the end of 2017.
Some of the People…and the Studio.
Some of the Classes…There we many others.
Some of the Paintings I’ve done.
Ending Thoughts
Overall experience was awesome.
If anyone wishes to work for a “Wine and Paint” sort of place I would say, go for it. Try it.
Being the Artist or even the Assistant some nights was fun.
You should however be aware it’s not a “Painting” job. It’s a Babysitting Drunk Adults, and Entertainment Job 100%.
As someone who lives with chronic illnesses (there are many) I can truthfully say it’s going to take all your energy. You save up your energy all day just to spend 3 hours working and while it is greatly fulfilling to have an honestly FUN job, it will make you very tired.
You should also be aware that your employers will vary from location to location. These are mostly FRANCHISE and the owners are all different but follow the “big” rules of the mother company. For this reason you may not like who you work for. You have to decide if it’s worth it. Again, the whole…go TRY it.
Because although I didn’t do it for very long it gave my career as an actual ARTIST a jump start. I didn’t know how to begin, how to run a company, or any of those things. But I DID know what I did not want from it.
So thanks to this experience I am the person I am today. And I’m forever grateful for the experience AND all of the people I met both at Training as other Instructors and the Customers we had come in and make my nights memorable.
Future Painting Plans
As some of you are already aware…
I plan on continuing to do Acrylic Paintings every once in a while on Twitch Live Streams, but I also want to take pieces and keep putting them on YouTube as Time Lapses. In rare instances I do want to make specific videos designed for teaching people how to paint some very simple and then advanced paintings.
Not sure when exactly this will happen, but maybe by the end of the year.