In April 2018, our fearless leader Julia Chatterji helped Laura Bilotta, AM 640 Radio Host and the Toronto matchmaker behind Single in the City co-host a new event she calls Wing Woman Paint Night at The Port House in Mississauga (right next door to our new location).
This is a terrific example of Studio Paint Bar offering a ‘white-label’ Paint Night service for another event coordinator. On this evening our equipment, staff, and style were borrowed by Laura to serve as the backdrop for her Wing Woman empowerment discussions. We shaped our performance around what this radio talk show host had in mind, and she had a big vision for the evening.
Paint Night can be many things – it can be tailored for mothers, meteorologists or auto mechanics and there are many styles of painting that can be attempted. We’ve done architecture, landscapes, cityscapes and still life, but on this particular evening, we had a gorgeous male model from Toronto come pose for us.
Martin Dasko from Studenomics, a student finance blog headquartered in Toronto, appeared in the restaurant at 6pm and agreed to strip off his shirt and pants (socks and shoes) and don a leopard skin lion cloth and get made up as a couture caveman.
Laura used Martin to represent ‘masculinity’ itself, and in the face of this beautiful Adonis she mentored her disciples to find a feminine solidarity. This night marked the debut of her Wing Woman Code of Ethics.
Toronto makeup artist Jennifer Turner was the other creative force in the team, and it fell to her to dress Martin (in the restaurant). The boy is not shy. She had to cut and shape the velour animal print material to fray its edges and make him look primal. Martin’s loin cloth costume was initially much more complicated with a shoulder strap; it resembled a stone-age characters’ skinny frock. But Laura nixed the shoulder strap observing that Martin’s handsome chest muscles should not be eclipsed in any way.
Jennifer Turner applied a generous coat of makeup to Martin’s face and chest and inked his eyes to sharpen his appearance as a noble savage.
Four thousand dollars worth of silver jewellery from On the Other Hand Jewellery store in Toronto also helped ennoble the handsome hero. As the ladies showed up to enjoy the evening they found him very compelling and certainly a worthy subject for paint lessons – here was the masculine monied man that so many ladies dream of meeting!
The Wing Woman Collective
It was Laura’s idea to gather together a crew of confident ladies and discuss the tenements of being a Wing Woman. What responsibilities does a wing woman have? What role does this person play when they are helping another woman versus helping a man? And what are the lines that should not be crossed? The Single in the City - Wing Woman Code of Ethics was unveiled that night as twelve ladies painted a handsome hero while contemplating the human condition. The disciples learned basic art skills they can practice forever.
Inside the Port House Restaurant at approximately 7pm, Single in the City’s first Paint Night event happened in the open square that would normally be called the dance floor. The ladies took their seats on chairs under which were thick plastic drop sheets. The two tables accommodated six painters each and everyone had easels and small white canvases, grease pencils and array of paint brushes.
The paint studio we set up consisted of,
- painters drop sheets
- two long tables and a high top – one stool for martin and twelve chairs
- twelve paint palettes with six dollops of paint each – black, white, red, blue, yellow, and a splash of gold paint
- twelve grease pencil
- twelve 20 x 16 canvas
- paint brushes – wide, medium and small point
- cup of water
The diverse array of all-female painters bonded together in solidarity while receiving instruction on how to paint from Julia.
The top five paintings (as judged by Laura and Julia) that night were awarded made-to-fit black walnut wooden picture frames! Every attendee got to keep her art plus a generous giftbag filled with beauty bar coupons and cosmetic samples.
To learn more about this event visit Modern Mississauga Media.