Paint and sip studios charge $40 to $60 per person for two hours and a canvas you probably will not hang. Doing it at home costs the price of one kit, takes as many evenings as you want, and the painting ends up good enough to keep. Here is how couples who order from us regularly set it up.

One canvas or two?

Both work, for different couples. Sharing one 20x26 inch canvas means sitting close, negotiating who takes the sky, and a single result you both own. It suits people who enjoy working together. Two separate 12x16 inch kits side by side suit the competitive or the independent: same evening, different pictures, compared at the end. If you go for two, the third kit is free at checkout, so there is a spare for the next date.

Splitting the work on one canvas

Divide by color, not by area. One person takes the odd-numbered pots, the other the even. You work across the whole canvas, bump elbows, swap places, and the painting advances evenly. Dividing left and right half leads to one side finishing early and watching.

Set the table

A cheap plastic tablecloth, two cups of water, paper towels, the pots arranged in number order between you. The kit brushes are fine to begin with; a set of fine liners such as our ten liner brushes ($12.95) helps on the small zones. A tabletop easel is optional but stops the canvas sliding when two people lean on it.

Wine is fine, within limits

Acrylic is water-based and non-toxic, and a glass of wine next to the palette is part of the fun. Keep it on the side away from the water cup though; swapping them is the classic date night accident. Two glasses in, zones start getting the wrong number. Stop painting, keep talking.

Pace it

A 16x20 inch canvas takes 15 to 30 hours. Plan for four or five evenings of two hours rather than one heroic night. Put the canvas somewhere visible between sessions; it is a small shared project sitting in the room, which turns out to be the real pleasure of it.

What couples pick

Two subjects dominate: the places you went together, and designs with a pair in them. For the first, the city collection usually has it. For the second, animal pairs are perennial. The custom kit from your own photo turns a photo of the two of you into the canvas itself, which is where anniversary buyers end up.

Shipping is free to the US, Canada, the UK, the EU, Australia and New Zealand, with no minimum. Orders leave the workshop within 1 to 3 business days and arrive in 7 to 15. Put two kits in the cart and the third one is taken off at checkout, no code to type.