Amateur artists do the Twist at the Crow

Painting with a Twist will be downtown Saturday for an outdoor painting session at The Flying Crow. The prompt for this event features a railroad track. (Submitted photo)
Painting with a Twist will be downtown Saturday for an outdoor painting session at The Flying Crow. The prompt for this event features a railroad track. (Submitted photo)

TEXARKANA, Ark. - Painting with a Twist packs up the art supplies and heads across town Saturday for an outdoor painting session at The Flying Crow.

From 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., enjoy the outside artsy vibes at the Crow, a downtown restaurant inside a converted railcar. Outside on the deck, Painting with a Twist artists will lead everyone on an art project to take home.

Gracie Rollins, the new manager at Texarkana's Painting with a Twist, says they'll leave the studio with canvases and easels in tow and do everything at The Flying Crow that they typically do at their home base.

"We're looking to do it outside on their patio. We'll instruct painting. This is happening on Trade Day, so it's going to be after Trade Day hours," Rollins said. "What's really cool about this event is The Flying Crow is typically only open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and they're opening later hours just for this event."

This is Painting with a Twist's second time to do an outdoor event at the Crow, she said. This time the theme is a railroad track, while the last time the theme was crows, appropriately enough.

"We're looking at doing it maybe once a month, so we'll be back. I think the next time we do it we'll probably going to paint like a '50s-style diner," Rollins said. Themes will connect with the restaurant.

Typically, Painting with a Twist teachers will guide attendees on an art project that everyone does, working with an image that serves as the prompt for each person's individual work of art.

People can sign up at the local Painting with a Twist website. Painting with a Twist is partnering with one of their art teacher's businesses, Elizabeth McKinley Art. McKinley and Rollins will be teaching at this Saturday event.

Anyone who wishes to attend Saturday can register right up until the start of the event. Tickets ($25) are less than a typical Painting with a Twist event. Rollins hopes their painting students will purchase food at The Flying Crow.

The event follows the Second Saturday Trade Days held across the street at The Historic 1894 and 1894 Gallery, which runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Other Painting with a Twist events on tap soon include a stand-up comedy open mic night May 21 (6 p.m. to 9 p.m.) and karaoke on April 23 (7 p.m. to 10 p.m.). Both of those happen at the studio, tickets for $35. For karaoke night, the painting theme is aliens, while for open mic it's a microphone on a stage.

Rollins said they also added a bi-lingual artist at Painting with a Twist and now offer classes taught in Spanish, too.

(Tickets: $25. Purchase tickets at Paintingwithatwist.com/studio/texarkana/event/2709552. The Flying Crow is located at 305 E. Front St. downtown. More info: 903-244-7879.)

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