Sip wine, learn to paint at new Newark studio
NEWARK – Stephanie Rhodes couldn’t be happier.
Since the grand opening last month of her Painting With a Twist studio in Suburban Plaza on Elkton Road, guests in classes and private parties have created more than 600 paintings, with adults welcome to sip their wine and beer selections from the studio bar.
“We just had our first wedding party,” she said, and classes typically sell out on Friday and Saturday nights. “It’s been awesome, and it’s a lot of fun.”
Hers is the first Delaware franchise of the company and a dream job after two less-than-satisfying decades of work in big-company finance, accounting and operations management.
Two-hour classes are $40 and three-hour classes are $50, with select 1½-hour classes offered at $25 for families and seniors. Private parties are available for all ages for groups from 10 to 50.
Each class creates a painting from a library of more than 5,000 created by Painting With a Twist artists – all supplies provided, including wine and beer for adults. Guests are welcome to bring snacks or food.
Making the leap
As Rhodes was looking for something new, she saw Facebook posts of friends’ paintings created – over glasses of studio-supplied wine – at Painting With a Twist shops in Ohio and New York.
Several companies offer similar franchises – one posting that “the ‘paint and wine’ industry is one of the fastest growing sectors in the art business today” – but what sets Painting With a Twist apart from other business opportunities, Rhodes said, is the company’s heart.
After Hurricane Katrina flooded Cathy Deano’s home and destroyed the three truckstops owned by the husband of her friend Renee Maloney, the two women started low-cost painting classes as a way to help get people out and, at least for a couple of hours, get their minds off the disaster to have some fun.
“Those two women are absolutely amazing,” Rhodes said, adding they only accept franchise applicants who fit into the company culture.
That includes supporting local artists to teach studio classes and Painting With a Purpose, a series of regular benefits for causes such as homeless pet shelters and cancer patient support.
They didn’t even plan on franchising, until a couple of studio regulars said they were retiring to Florida and wanted to open one there. That was 2009.
Rhodes was impressed that 90 percent of franchise-holders are owner-operators and that more than one of every four has two or more studios.
She also was honored to meet and share ideas with one of the original franchise founders during team training at the company’s annual conference in New Orleans in July.
Another regular at the first studio there got an early franchise when she moved to Texas, now home to 45 studios.
Since last year, when CNN Money picked Painting With a Twist for its “Hot Franchise” feature, the number of studios more than doubled from 82 to 171, each requiring a $25,000 seven-year franchise fee that includes a no-cost 5-year renewal.
Delaware became the 24th state with a franchise, with Rhodes’ husband, Bill, as a semi-silent partner.
Creating a buzz
At Finley’s Art Shoppe near Newark, owner Joanne Finley said Painting With a Twist is creating a lot of buzz.
“People are loving it,” she said, and step-by-step instruction – over wine – could help budding amateurs open themselves more to the experience of painting more on their own.
Count Wes and Ginger Marshall, who live near Wilmington, among the new studio’s devotees.
They have created a half-dozen paintings apiece.
“We saw it on Facebook, and it looked like it would be fun,” Ginger said, adding she first heard of the idea from her daughter-in-law who did a group-painting experience in Baltimore.
“You don’t need to have any confidence in painting at all,” she said. “You don’t need to have any ability with art at all.
“You just relax and have fun,” she said, adding that she and her husband, both retirees, enjoy the broad range of ages the painting classes attract.
The Marshalls have booked a private painting party on Thanksgiving weekend for family and friends. From Painting With a Twist’s library of more than 5,000 paintings, they selected an Asian-feel scene of cranes against a moon.
They also plan to give their paintings as Christmas gifts, she said, “and if anyone doesn’t like them, we’ll just say, ‘Hang onto them because we could be famous artists someday.’”
Contact robin brown at (302) 324-2856 or rbrown@delawareonline.com. Find her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter @rbrowndelaware.
PAINTING WITH A TWIST
For more information about Painting With a Twist in Newark, including online registation, visit www.paintingwithatwist.com/newark/ or call (302) 660-1200.