Paint nights gain popularity across county

Over the last few years, Whitman County has seen an ever-increasing amount of paint nights. Four years ago in Rosalia, some students came up with a new way to raise money for their senior trip.

Rebecca Dempsey, Cheney School District's art teacher, is the mother of one of the students, Logan Dempsey. She attended a paint night that her mom had set up in Cheney and felt it would make for a good fundraiser in Rosalia.

With Rebecca's help, the students were able to put together 'Canvas Café Night.' The students are in charge of advertising, set-up, supply distribution, clean-up, babysitting and snacks.

As a fundraiser, the students charge $20 per person. The money goes into the class that organizes the event for their graduation and senior trip expenses. The supplies are bought in bulk for several events.

Rebecca donates some of her paint as well as her time for the events. She also brings the mini easels and paint brushes .

The eighth painting night will be in March.

"I believe people just want a space to have a relaxing evening trying to create something new without having to spend a lot of money or drive to Spokane," said Jennifer Olson, Rosalia's associated student body advisor.

"The painting activities are geared towards adults of all abilities," added Olson. "Individuals do not need to know how to paint to participate and create a wonderful painting."

Rebecca not only goes step-by-step in creating the images, but also goes over holding brushes and layering paint, creating various effects.

Over the last couple of years, some branches of the Whitman County Library have also made paint night a regular event.

It started with the Endicott branch in July of 2017.

"We have to give Tia Langston all the credit for bringing in this new and innovative program to the Endicott Library," said Catalina Flores, Circulation and Branch Coordinator for the Whitman County Library, "and letting the rest of our branches piggy back ride and offer it in their community."

Langston had been looking for something new and fun to bring people into the library. She was an art major in school and had seen businesses that did wine and paint night and thought 'why can't we do that at the library?'

Langston will sometimes do the instruction for the classes herself, but usually uses a painting tutorial from Youtube. She'll often decide the subject for the painting based on the season, sometimes what she thinks the crowd is most interested in and sometimes it is just because she wants to paint 'that'.

She started the paint night experimentally, and it took off.

"People love it," stated Langston, explaining how some people have even started to buy their own supplies thanks to discovering this new outlet to their creativity.

The paint night programs have really taken off, with the libraries in St. John and Oakesdale starting up their own paint nights. The program in Endicott has expanded to include not only adults and teens, but tweens as well. Langston started the tween program when she realized the older of the after school program kids seemed to put more effort and focus into the paint activities they did and could take more.

A help to the paint nights in Endicott is the bigger, newer TV they received from the Colfax branch that will make watching the videos for paint nights easier.

Oaksdale's library received a grant from Palouse Wind Farm and Novatus Energy to hold free paint nights while the other branches of Whitman County Library only charge $8 for the canvas, paints and other supplies.

"Personally, I think many people have always wanted to learn to paint or enjoy channeling their creativity," said Kristie Kirkpatrick, the Whitman County Rural Library District Director. "These classes give residents a fun, convenient and local opportunity to do that – all while socializing with friends and neighbors."

For folks who want to stretch their creative wings, there are also craft nights regularly held at the various county library locations as well as at the Rosalia Coffee Shop. Paint nights, Wine and Paint nights, Paint and sip's, have all become popular activities over the last several years with businesses nationwide for date-night activities, bachelorette parties and other such events.

Over the next couple months there are several opportunities to experience a paint night. Feb. 1 and 9 Oakesdale Library will be offering paint nights for free. In the week following on Feb. 15 and 16 Endicott branch of the library will hold couples paint nights for $16 per couple.

Endicott Library plans some paint nights every month.

"I will keep doing it until they stop showing up," said Langston.

March 22 and 23 Endicott's library is holding three paint activities. On March 22 at 6 p.m. the library is having an adult paint night while on March 23 tween's get a paint activity at 10 a.m. while teens get a paint activity at 2 p.m. The libraries do ask that those who wish to attend the paint nights sign-up in advance.