Ever on the look out for something new to try, when Mandy suggested a girls painting night, I didn’t ask any questions. I just said yes!

Design & Dine were hosting an evening at Pure Sky Lounge at the Hilton Jumeirah Beach. For AED300 you could paint yourself a “legend”, have unlimited drinks and some bar snacks. I don’t think you could really ask for much more, aside from a good group of people around you which I also had!

After a few crossed wires about dates (I need to write things down more often), it was finally the right night and I was ready. Until work got in the way. I ended up being half an hour late and missing the main talk.

I actually think that was a bonus as when I arrived, I was desperate to catch up and so didn’t over think what I was doing and just put colour on the canvas. I didn’t have a plan. There were colours, and there was a canvas. Everyone appeared to be blending in one direction, so I decided to go at the other. I thought a rainbow type thing, but then there was an orange. Then well… this is what came out…

After a few more snacks (but no way near enough for the level of booze that was being given to people), we got the spray paints! It turns out that we were meant to wait for the next round of instructions before we played, but it looked fun so we got going!

I mean, once again, I didn’t do what I was meant to but that shouldn’t actually be a shock to anyone by this point. Given I didn’t really know what I was doing at all and it’s the first time I’ve ever held a can of spray paint, I don’t think it turned out so badly though!

A bunch more drinks later and a couple more ‘nibbles’, it was time for the final stage. I wasn’t convinced that I actually wanted to do this part. I liked my strange little explosion fire thing. But, it was part of the evening so I figured why not. If it was terrible then I didn’t have to keep it!

After watching everyone else have a go, FOMO kicked in and I decided to give it a try. I decided again to do my own thing a bit. I chose Audrey Hepburn, but I didn’t want her centered on the canvas like everyone else had, naturally. I decided to offset her. It worked very well indeed, aside from the fact I forgot to cover the bits that weren’t under the stencil. Oops.

However, I don’t think my attempt at pop art ended so badly…

Are there things I would change? Yes. But only the fact I messed up the stencil outside bit. Lesson learnt for next time. And there certainly will be a next time. It was such a fun evening!