Painting with a Twist cultivates love with Valentine’s Day paintings

From two months together to a decade anniversary, couples from Baldwin and out of town came to family-owned business Painting with a Twist to create love-infused art. The two sold-out painting sessions gave a much-needed boost to the local woman-owned business which has been struggling to come back strong due to the pandemic.

Joe Cooper, 56, and Nikki Cooper, 46, decided to come to the reasonably priced studio to try out a new idea for date night, having never been to a paint and sip establishment before and finding that a lot of lounges are closed, narrowing their Valentine’s Day options.

Nikki said it worked out perfect, “because [the class size of 26] was small enough you didn’t feel overwhelmed, it didn’t feel crowed at all…the lesson was easy to follow, and the instructor encouraged us to personalize it which I really liked…it really is an individualized picture.”

The painting set of trees with heart-shaped wind blowing through the landscape “required teamwork” she said, which wasn’t hard for the decade-long couple. Although the day of Valentine’s Day both Coopers will be working, Joe said that “We do Valentines every day because in the morning I say, ‘love you’, in the afternoon I say ‘hey, I love you’ and in the evening I close the book and say, ‘I love you.’”

Couple Shaketa Mijangos, 41, and Mitzi Mijangos, 33, are also celebrating their ten years, going to Painting at a Twist on the date of their ten-year anniversary. Shaketa said they were no strangers to painting, “We usually do paint night and today is our anniversary, so we like to paint, this is our thing and we’ve done plenty over the years.” For the day of the Mijangos are planning to go on a romantic horse and carriage ride around enchanted Central Park.

One of the younger couples, together so far for five months, Chuna Azoba, 27, and Amara Njoku, 25, enjoyed the second class where couples painted each other as kings and queens in a card deck. Azoba said he’d “never done a paint and sip before, but it was easy to follow along with. Some movements were technical, but definitely a lot of fun…I like how it turned out.” Njoku agreed saying she’d “definitely come back again.”

Instructor Angie Guevara, 29, has worked at Painting with a Twist since they opened, even visiting the New Orleans store that started the franchise to get training and tips. During her few years as an instructor, she’s developed her painting and public speaking skills to a tee.

Having gone to Parsons School of Design, The New School before joining Painting with a Twist as a graphic artist and illustrator, she’s enjoyed the newer other medium of painting. Saying that she “got through the pandemic by taking care of my jumping spider Amber and practicing painting, like learning hyper realistic skills and making esoteric fantasy art pieces.”