Beyond Red and White: Painting at Pinot’s Palette

Enjoy a glass of wine as you dip your brush in any color at Pinot’s Palette.

At Pinot's Palette in Montclair, participants simultaneously paint pictures and savor vino.
Courtesy of Pinot's Palette

Paint. Sip. Repeat. That’s all there is to it. While art and wine have always lent themselves to connoisseurship, only in the last decade have the two been paired in an entertaining concept called the paint-and-sip studio.

Pinot’s Palette, a popular paint-and-sip franchise launched in Houston in 2009, has more than 50 locations across the country. In August, Verona resident Colleen Carlee opened the brand’s first Northeast outpost. “I chose Montclair,” she explains, “because it is a community that embraces art and creativity.”

Seven local artists and graphic designers take turns leading the Montclair sessions. Designed for the non-artist, they include easy-to-follow instructions. Participants bring their own wines, and Pinot’s Palette provides glasses, corkscrews, buckets of ice and, of course, easels, canvases, paints, brushes and the clean-up.

“It’s fun art, not fine art!” Carlee says.

Three to four classes are offered a week, each lasting two to three hours. An original painting is placed on an easel, and the teacher leads the class step-by-step in copying it, literally or freely, as the spirit moves them. The studio can be reserved for all kinds of private parties. “It’s a trend I think is only going to get bigger,” Carlee says. “People enjoy being creative and are always looking for new ideas for a night out.”

351 Bloomfield Avenue; 973-744-7500; pinotspalette.com/montclair.

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