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| By Donn Swaby | |
PAINT LAB COME PAINT WITH US!
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Oana Bogdan, a professional art director, came up with the concept
for Paint Lab a few years ago when she was painting at home. “I
just always thought, ’ Hey, it would be so great to paint away
from the house and have a spot where you can just go when you have time
in your schedule, without having to book a class,’” she
said. “I’ve done the class thing where you have to show
up six weeks in a row at six PM for three hours and I thought it would
be nice to do something outside of my regular nine to five job and have
a place where people can come and get creative. I’ve done extensive
research to find if anybody else does this and didn’t find anything.” Bogdan told her friend Melanie Cote, a locations manager in the film industry, about the plan and she jumped on board as a business partner. “She (Bogdan) has the formal background and it was very exciting to me to know that we could bring that to other people. “ “It was a little slow in the film business at the end of last year,” said Bogdan, “so it kind of gave me the space to focus on Paint Lab and find a location.” “We’ve been living it now for over two weeks,” adds Melanie, “and it’s fantastic to see how people react to it.” As for the future, Bogdan is already envisioning more Paint Labs cropping up in L.A. “Hopefully we can build on that and make other space.“ she said. “I would love to actually have this kind of space available to people in low income places so those kids can go into art instead of other no-so-nice things. Every neighborhood needs one.”
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For
anyone who’s ever had the urge to awaken and explore the creatively
expressive painter lying dormant within, Paint Lab is the place for
you! Located on Main Street in Santa Monica, this new “art gym”
offers anyone, regardless of experience level, a tranquil and fun place
to paint, using all types of mediums and supplies, with a friendly and
knowledgeable staff always present to provide professional assistance.
Paint
Lab provides the painter the paints (water color, oil, acrylic, gouache,
and tempera), brushes, a choice of pre-made surfaces, a shelf of reference
books, and unlimited help from a professional staff, all for $20, making
it the perfect place for even more experienced painters to experiment
with new mediums without spending an exorbitant amount of money. They
also offer supplies for sale, two hour stand-alone-event workshops with
specific instruction, after-school workshops for kids, private instruction,
wall space to display artwork produced by both patrons and instructors
for sale or exhibit, and two weekly social workshops: Watercolor n’
Wine Wednesdays (with an instructor) and Paint, Wine n‘ Cheese“
Fridays (vino and cheese is complimentary). Painters can stay as long
as they want, come back as much as they want to finish a project, and
can even leave their project there overnight. Paint Lab will even clean
up after you!
