KUCHING: Sip and paint, what do we know about it? It is a concept where one could enjoy a glass of wine or non-alcoholic beverage for teetotalers and Muslims, and paint with a group of people guided by an artist.
For Jenelle Bannavong, it is more than that. It is not an art class but more towards a relaxing art session where everyone has a good time and enjoy painting.
The 34-year-old artist was inspired while painting at home during the pandemic and brought her sip-and-paint idea to live at The Wine Cartel, Jalan Ellis here.
“So what we do here is to let people have a good time and hang out with friends or just chill and drink wine or other stuff.
“The session is accompanied by glasses of wine or they can go for other drinks as well because not everyone is a drinker.
“We want people to come to the session, enjoy and have a good time. You cannot just focus on painting. You can paint whatever you want, you do not have to necessarily copy what the session or the painter is doing.
“Since the country was on lockdown because of the pandemic, I started to paint at home and have done many paintings.
“Then I got the idea to have a sip-and-paint session at The Wine Cartel, so I proposed this to my husband, from then on, it has been going pretty well,” she explained.
Jenelle hoped more people would join up. “I tried to find places to hang out in the city and relax, I even researched if there were such places to sit and drink and enjoy painting but none.
“So this place, this session allows people to clear their mind, de-stress themselves from work, to calm down and be patient and relax with painting.
“They can come here, enjoy the wine, listen to fine music, and join in the painting session. Even if you are not good at art, just try it out and enjoy and feeling good.”
Jenelle said during the pandemic, it was pretty difficult as they had to limit the number of people for the session, sometimes from eight to six people.
“We have to take precaution and follow the standard operating procedures, because we do not want our customers to get the virus, therefore, we are being careful until now.
“Now that things are opening up during the endemic phase, we hope to see more people coming in and enjoy the wine and the painting session as well.”
“The feedbacks were positive thus far and I am grateful and happy that me and my team are able to be a small part that provide a positive impact in the community. I hope more people will join and enjoy Sip and Paint at The Wine Cartel.”
Sip and paint is happening at The Wine Cartel every Saturday. For those who are interested to know more, visit The Wine Cartel at their Instagram or Facebook page.
