I am interested in art and have done a lot of drawing over the years, but any painting has largely been confined to watercolours with the grandchildren, that was until yesterday (2 July 2017). I was invited by a friend and talented artist, Tako Shashiashvili to a workshop entitled “Delicious Painting 3“. We would be painting with acrylics in a small group of 8, some were beginners like me. We met in No.21 Terrace Restaurant in Maidani in Old Tbilisi, which has a fabulous view of the old Metekhi Church on the opposite bank of the Mtkvari River.

Tako supplied all the paints and gave us each a canvas to paint on. Acrylic paints were chosen as our medium as they dry much quicker than oils and watercolour requires too much preparation.

paints Oksana prepares pallettes for each of us a blank canvas

First we were given pencils to sketch in some outline and details and work out the composition.

Tako would also paint to demonstrate the techniques, but she was clear we were painting for ourselves and should be relaxed.

We soon got down to painting ourselves, this was an interesting experience, mixing the paints on the palette and trying to capture the scene on canvas.

adding paint to the canvas

It was a hot day, we would spend around two and a half hours painting. The activity I found quite relaxing. Maybe, half the group were first timers painting in acrylics.

Oksana and Tako had obviously done this before.

Tako’s demo Oksana’s painting

Tako is a professional artist, next week she will have an exhibition in Amsterdam. She was inspiring and helped us bring out our inner artists. The Facebook page for her art: Tako Shashiashvili Art

my palette: before my palette: after

My palette saw a lot of mixing.

Here are our finished works.

I was quite pleased with my first canvas.

I hope to have more opportunities to paint in the future, it was fun. Thanks, Tako 🙂 Didi madloba.