Today’s story is all about friendship, creativity, wellbeing and doing what you love!!
Introducing ‘Thirsty Painter’.
Due to our current circumstances, I have only had the pleasure of meeting Angel and Thembi, founders of ‘Thirsty Painter’, virtually; I heard about them and their new business via an ex-colleague of mine and got in touch.
I decided to release their story today, ahead of their mindful painting session tomorrow 5th of December, supporting MIND charity.
Mind Charity is a mental health charity making sure no one faces mental health alone, and Thirsty Painter is hosting a ‘Christmas Crafternoon’ between 1 – 2pm showcasing a simple abstract painting technique, completely absorbing and perfect for a relaxing crafternoon. If you would like to be a part of the crafternoon and support, all details and links have been added below.
Another great reason for releasing their story today, is we are all December gals! So, there are a few birthdays coming up; they are not only business partners, but also birthday twins. They share birthdates on the 30th of December, however 5 years apart.
Angel and Thembi met at work; they both work in government. Thembi is in HR, creating HR initiatives for wellbeing and Angel is in Finance. They both work in a demanding environment, so mental health and wellbeing is incredibly important to them.
I am really looking forward to the upcoming year, and meeting them in person, hopefully at one of their locals, @beehiven17, which is a pub that also shares our love for plants.
What a better story to share through the month of December than theirs …
I hope you enjoy it!
Photo: @thirstypainter - Angel & Thembi
I was lucky enough to be invited to one of their virtual events ‘Starry Night’ on the 24th of November, so by 6pm I had my table set up and was ready to start. The event was online, with around another 20 people, it lasted 2 hours, and I ended up wanting more.
The event had a great mix of people and it was interesting to see the different set up that everyone had prepared. I think this pandemic has made us more ‘aware’ of our surroundings, or at least it has made me, as I pay attention to details I did not before. There were dining tables turned into art tables, desks with easels and magnifying glasses, some people were sitting on the floor, some on their sofa, some were wearing headphones, others were drinking wine or tequila and ginger beer. But the one thing we all had in common was, we had set some time aside, ‘just for us’ to enjoy our evening and have a good time.
There was no judgement, you had freedom to follow the instructions or just paint to your liking, great playlist in the background, a themed quiz and lots of laughter.
Following this session, I will definitely be returning to painting, which has been one of my favourite hobbies since childhood.
Photo: @alebrijeconsulting - Starry Night painting, with the moon looking like it is smiling!
‘As committed as we are to our profession, we were constantly delivering, forever focusing and never switching off. Easily starting work at 8am and leaving at 8pm, spending time in the local bar until close to cope with how stressed we were. We knew we could not continue as we were.
At that time, we were both trying out new things our separate ways and we both experienced sip and paint events, but in a completely different way. Sip and Paint is a fairly new concept to the UK, and when we started looking for some activities to do after work, the options were either a fine art class or an alcohol focused paint event, which neither appealed to us. We were looking for a healthier way to unwind and switch off after work as our mental health was being affected by working in a highly pressured environment, not being able to switch off and being constantly stressed.
We met at work and bonded over the fact that we have the same birthday. Individually, we always wanted to become business owners at some point in our lives and this idea, which has so many opportunities to branch off, seemed like a fun concept to start with.
Between us, we had both hosted and attended private paint parties and events. We both experienced the benefits of painting and how just doing something outside of the realms of your day to day work and routine was relaxing.
It just seemed natural to want to pull our heads together and set something up that benefited us.
We had been talking about this project since last year, and it all got incorporated in March this year. The initial model was to have face to face events in different bars and restaurants in London, as an alternative to ‘after work’ drinks, but where people can still get together, unwind, and get creative.
Our main focus was to get people together, tap into their creativity and relax; not being a solely infused alcohol event as you can ‘sip’ any type of beverage you prefer.
Photo: @thirstypainter - 'Easels & Canvas'
However, due to our circumstances, we quickly had to shift our business model to online events. This was not our initial preference, as we were worried about the ‘online interaction’ with people, but it has been great, and we are really enjoying it.
Working online has been a big learning curve and success, however we are still open and looking forward to taking private and corporate bookings face to face when possible and in line with C-19 regulations.
Our first online event was launched in August 2020, it was on Tuesday 25th with a ‘Summer’ theme. With our shared love for travel, travel being restricted, and with us having the hottest summer ever recorded in London, we thought, why not spend an evening sipping your favourite beverage whilst painting that desired dream location, ‘The Beach’ , and bring the summer vibes to your home!
It was a surreal experience, however fun and very interactive; a great way of introducing people to new painting techniques. It was quite amazing to see that even though we had given the same instructions and the same theme to everyone, everyone ended up with a unique painting. It was uplifting in a way, watching, and hearing people in delight at what they had created, trusting the guidance, and stepping out of their comfort zone.
We also knew that no matter how prepared we were, we were going to encounter some difficulties and things that were out of our control, such as the different WiFi connections and IT issues.
However, the one thing we were not expecting was how positive and amazing the feedback was, and the impact our events were having on people. Some of the feedback has really hit a nerve, in a good way, and stuck with us. A new mother mentioned that this was her first adult interaction since she had her baby during lockdown and that it was great that she did not need to leave her home; other people mentioned that as they are living alone, this event had really uplifted their mood; and one of our client’s said he couldn’t put the paint brush down!
We love how diverse and inclusive our events are and how everyone is happy to share their thoughts and experiences. Some of our clients even share their stories; we have had some entertaining ones for sure.
Photo: @thirstypainter - 'African Sunset', online event held 27th of October 2020.
We are defined by our slogan ‘Creatively Supporting your Wellbeing’. We both realised that although we were once very creative and thoroughly enjoyed creative activities, life and ‘adulting’ got in the way.
Our mission is to help anyone dealing with daily stresses to unleash their creativity which in return will automatically improve their wellbeing.
Before C-19, the importance of wellbeing was already a widely talked subject and its awareness was rising. Now, even more so, it is ever so important for people to really consider their wellbeing and take some time out for themselves. We are both big fans of achieving work-life balance and our mission is to provide people with a space to do so.
The plan is to continue our mission and grow our business. We have so many ideas, but as we both work in a corporate environment, we are also aiming at corporate events, as we are aware of the great need for our services in that area.
We are still debating whether to host a ‘Sip & Paint’ event in December, as it has been requested by popular demand, but our plan is to host more online events next year.
As we both work full time, we are only currently doing an event a month, so we would love to collaborate with other artists and host more sessions.
We see Thirsty Painter growing within the Mental Health and Wellbeing industry and spreading the word of how important mental health and self-care is.
@thirstypainter @mindcharity