Learning How to Paint in Gangnam

When I was in grade school, my cousin and I joined a charcoal painting class one summer. I wasn’t really good in arts (still not good at it now) but I remember enjoying it. We painted a portrait of Sharon Cuneta, by the way. I’m proud to say that my painting wasn’t awful. Actually, it was because our teacher guided us on each step. No way I could have done that using my “creativity” solely.

I’ve always wanted to participate in any activity/workshop once again, especially when I arrived in Korea four years ago. I brought a sketchbook given by my cousin and used it as a notebook for writing my thoughts instead. When coloring books were popular, I bought one for myself but colored only about 5 pages. And then I searched for painting or coffee-making (latte art is considered art, right?) classes in Seoul. The coffee-making classes were a bit expensive, so I bought a book and ended up leaving it in the Philippines. As for art classes, I only found one outside Seoul. In short, I just gave up on bringing some “art” in my life. Thankfully, I saw my friend’s Instagram post about an art class in Gangnam. Of course, I signed up immediately. This is it!

On the night of our class, we arrived a bit early so we just took some photos while waiting for the class to start.

When I saw the materials: “I’m so excited to unleash my inner artist!”

When I saw the canvass: “Oh my! What have I gotten myself into?”

Fake it until you make it 😀

My face when I try to look like I understand everything that the teacher said in Korean. Hahaha

We attended this class late November so the art class’ theme was Christmas. I’ll just show our progress on how we painted a Christmas wreath. Was it a success? You be the judge (please be a kind one)! 🙂

Started with painting our canvass with a color of our choice. His was pink and mine was yellow (I just followed the teacher’s color choice with her piece. Lol).

Draw a circle using a pencil and then paint light colored stems and leaves

Add light blue mini branches

Next, dark colored leaves

Before we get to the final product, let me share some photos to show that we were “artists” even for just a few hours. 🙂

Almost there…

Final step: paint darker mini-branches and cherries

And we’re done! Presenting the paintings…

My work 95% done. I added more cherries on the left side to cover those weird leaves. Lol

His work! Good job! ❤

…and the proud owners!! 🙂

The art classes are held every Tuesday. It costs 10,000 won per person and 19,000 for two. When we joined, the fee was inclusive of a drink and sandwich. It was a good deal! Check out their upcoming classes in Instagram (artspaceparty)!