I unstitched my soul, thread by thread, Unveiled the bruises where my heart had bled. You watched, and listened, as I stressed That I’ve never been enough, even at my best.
I placed my truth in your open heart, A fragile thing we never meant to start. You showed empathy and held me close, And let you see my darkest shadows. My words hung heavy, raw and bare, “I’m broken,” I strongly declared.
You turned away, unmoved, no regard While I stood bleeding and scarred. Now echoes haunt the hollow space Where once I begged for your embrace. I gave you all, my breath, my trust But love was never for me to entrust.
So go, walk on, and leave me here, Among the ghosts of what was sincere. I bared it all, my ruin, my pain, And you walked away, leaving me in chains.
Guided painting classes have become popular in recent times, thanks to companies who are developing art classes locally and nationally. Within the Killeen and Harker Heights area, there are two popular companies that offer such classes. How are they alike and different? Which one is the better choice? Let’s take a look at what each location has to offer.
Tap Tap Art Studio History
Tap Tap Art Studio is a local small business. It was developed to help promote the arts locally, outside of regular primary and secondary classes. The company initially started its location in a bus. Eventually, its popularity grew, and they now have a physical location. Tap Tap Art Studio focuses on all aspects of art: from music, painting, pottery, and more.
Painting with a Twist History
Painting with a Twist is a national brand. The first location was opened in Louisiana after the devastating Hurricane Katrina ruined area. It grew over time and became one of the most recognized names in its category. The idea behind Painting with a Twist is to have fun and learn something amazing at the same time. Painting with a Twist focuses only on the painting aspect of the art.
Activities for Children
Both locations offer activities for children; however, Tap Tap Art Studio offers several different types of activities. Tap Tap Art Studio offers camp and after-school activities; whereas Painting with a Twist only offers children painting classes. These children friendly events are limited on days and times, but the paintings are appropriate for the ages advertised.
Parties are available at both locations.
Adult Activities
Both locations offer adult painting services with the option to BYOB (Bring Your Own Beverage) and snacks. The benefit of Painting with a Twist over Tap Tap Art Studio is the variety and classes offered to adults. Painting with a Twist has more available classes to adults with a wider option of paintings. Tap Tap Art Studio’s paintings for adults are often rare, limited, and few choices of designs.
Painting with a Twist offers a specialized Paint Your Pet session. In this session, you send in a photo of your animal. They draw out the outline of the painting. Each guest has a different picture. From there, they guide them on how to mix colors and such to make the animal appear realistic. This customizable painting can be especially important to those who may have recently lost an animal and want to cherish the memory of their fur babies. In this session, they provide more one-on-one guidance to ensure the painting is as realistic as possible. These sessions cost more due to the amount of assistance they provide and customization that is provided. It’s well worth it for the animal lover!
Parties are available at both locations. However, Painting with a Twist allows fundraising activities for groups of any kind. A percentage of the cost goes back to the group. Usually the paintings are related to the topic/group at hand.
Available Paintings
The paintings at both locations are easy, but challenging for a non-artist of any age. Both locations offer a 16″ x 20″ canvas (sometimes it varies on the painting) with a pre-drawn piece of art. Both locations guide the user through the process of painting (completing the background first, allowing it to dry, continuing to the next layer, allowing that to dry, etc.). Both locations have a color palette for each painting, but they also allow customization.
Both locations offer assistance with paintings. If you are a struggling artist, such as myself, they come by often and guide you. Rarely do they step in and “fix” the painting, but it is possible. As someone with a heavy hand, sometimes I can overdue the amount of paint on a project. However, they will come by and show how to spread it out without messing up the look or concept of the painting.
One difference in companies regarding painting is Tap Tap Art Studio allows mixed media paintings. A recent painting with Tap Tap Art Studio included acrylic painting with pearls for their “Chucks and Pearls” painting. Painting with a Twist only completes acrylic paintings with no other forms of media. If they conducted the same session, no pearls would be added. Instead, it would have been just paint depicting the pearls on the shoes.
COVID Adjustments
Painting with a Twist has made the effort to adapt to the times with COVID. Painting with a Twist offers take home paintings. Included in this are instructions on how to complete the piece. They have also supplied online videos on how to complete these projects for the visual learner. They have constant access to customer service for questions. Tap Tap Art Studio had some take home projects when COVID initially hit in the United States, but has since discontinued such activities.
Classes have been reasonable in terms of a cap limit of people. Both locations have large rooms to space people out. Both locations have a maximum amount of participants to reduce the possible exposure of COVID to guests. Both locations are adamant about cleaning their supplies, rooms, door handles, etc. Both locations offer sanitizer, masks, and other COVID needs when entering the building.
Overall Feedback
Both locations offer amazing activities for children and adults. The biggest takeaway from this is a matter of preference.
If you’re someone who enjoys learning and completing several art pieces, then Painting with a Twist may be more up your alley with the options and times available. If you’re the person who is more focused on activities outside of painting, then Tap Tap Art Studio would be a better choice for your interests.
Give both places a try and see which one fits your needs and wants. Support a small local business or support a small local franchise. Either way, support the local arts and economy while learning something new and having some fun!
Personal Paintings from Each
Tap Tap Art Studio
Below is my mixed media “Chucks and Pearls” from Tap Tap Art Studio.
Painting with a Twist
Below are completed paintings from Painting with a Twist
Austin, Texas is a place known for their interesting appeal. From the hippie vibe to the new Silicone Valley feel, Austin, Texas provides a variety of activities for everyone of all ages! Austin is, no doubt, one of the best places to visit in Texas to receive Southern Hospitality!
Due to COVID, some locations may be temporarily closed or limited. Please check on their site prior to attempting to go to their spot.
Wonderspaces
Wonderspaces is a beautiful, interesting, and interactive location for those who are into modern art. With only four locations in the United States, it’s a place one would be lucky to see!
Due to COVID, we were unable to interact with some features. One display was being worked on and not open to the public. However, despite the setbacks, there were several other displays open! They were kind enough to let us know they would be offering tickets via email once they open back up 100% so we could fully experience the displays.
They had several stunning exhibits that were peaking my interest. The only thing I wish they added to each exhibit was a description for each piece. The Illegal Art exhibit was stunning, but I wanted to know more about it. You can find more information online, but it would have been handy to have this in person as well. It very well may be that they normally do have these in person, but, due to coronavirus, they chose to make it digital.
Exhibits
Squidsoup is one of the creators of the Submergence exhibit in Austin, TX. This feature allows guests to observe a beautiful light show that moves with the music to form a variety of shows.
Submergence may have been my favorite display!
Reed van Brunschot created the large Thank You Bags exhibit. The focus of this piece is the American belief in capitalism and harmful effects of these plastic waste bags on the environment.
Vier Nev created the A Mind Sang. This visual display has a seamless movement through the video. It shares some images of what appears to be optical illusions.
Yasuhiro Chida’s exhibit initially appeared to be dancing fireflies within the display. As we came closer, we thought it appeared to be spiderwebs. After further looking, we realized it was fishing line. The ability to take fishing line and create such a masterful piece is amazing!
This stunning piece made me want to enjoy the nights of Texas again!
Everyware created the Levitate piece. Unfortunately, we were unable to interact with this one due to coronavirus. However, I am hoping soon we will be able to experience it to it’s full potential!
We were unfortunately unable to view this one to its entirety! I cannot wait to see how astounding this one is!
Memo Akten was the creator of Body Paint. This exhibit is interactive with human movements. The use of shadow and body create beautiful art pieces. This is especially ideal for those who grew up in dance, gymnastics, or even generalized sports.
NONOTAK Studio displayed one of the most intriguing exhibits, Hoshi, with their use of mirrors, sound, and lights. At times, the image of you walking may confuse you with the flashes and the multi-way mirrors. My only suggestion on this one is to not bring those who have epileptic episodes watch this!
John Edmark created Blooms. This one was particularly interesting. At times, it would appear as if the sculpture moved and other times it didn’t. The use of strobe lights allows the guest to spend additional time at this exhibit to examine if their eyes are betraying them!
Sweepers Clock was created by Maarten Baas. In this exhibit, they use trash to create time changes within a clock. It truly shows that beautiful art can be made from literal trash.
On a Human Scale was on exhibit that was inaccessible. I could tell this exhibit would be a beautiful creation from Matthew Matthew. I cannot wait to see this exhibit back open. I know it will be utterly astounding when the time comes to see this exhibit to its fullest extent.
Illegal Art had The Last Word. The concept behind this exhibit is absolutely beautiful: unspoken words to form a beautiful display. I am curious if the creators ever plan to reveal what messages are tied within those pieces of paper.
Charlotte Stoudt, Laura Wexler, Angel Soto, Skybound, Ryot & Telexist’s exhibit of Dinner Party threw me for a loop, initially. When I walked into this exhibit, I felt like I was intruding on a dinner part (it definitely fits the name). I remember telling the person I was with, “I’m not sure if we should be in here.” After realizing it was one of the art pieces, I started to look deeper into the meaning behind it. Unfortunately, this is also a piece that we were able to experience 100%, due to COVID.
Michael Murphy’s exhibit of The Immigrant was unfortunately having maintenance completed. Due to this, we were unable to see this in it’s beauty.
Taquero Mucho (Pink Tacos of Austin)
If you love the idea of Tiffany Blue, you’ll love Taquero Mucho! Everything in this location is pink: from the outside decorations to the interior design, and even the plates, glasses, and check payment holder. This place bleeds pink!
The first thing I noticed, aside from the insane amount of pink throughout the building, I noticed the incredibly small menu. Usually menus that are small tend to have delicious food, because they focus so much on flavor! I can attest that this theory is true! Their the carnitas were amazing! The flavors were bursting with each and every bite. I’m not a bean fan, but their beans had an amazing flavor to them as well! Of course all food and drinks were in the color pink as well!
They have a few outdoor delights to enjoy as well, including an old telephone booth, outdoor seating, and an outdoor shop. I was so enthralled by the pink overload I had to purchase a t-shirt in support of this amazing company started by such an amazing person!
Top Golf Austin
As someone who had never golfed before, coming here seemed a bit intimidating at first. I was worried professional golfers would appear and put me to shame. It’s not like mini golf, which you have built in supports (short distances, smaller clubs, etc.).
Luckily, that wasn’t my experience at all! Top Golf Austin had a good mix of professional and beginner golfers. There were families, couples, groups of friends, and more. With COVID restrictions, they limit how many people may be in a bay. They do their best to spread out customers as well to ensure safety! The staff is extremely friendly to include walking new timers through the process (such as myself).
There are several options of playing (from Beginner to Advanced, games to tournaments). I found the technology to be intriguing, which led to a discussion with the employees about the tracking of the ball, video source, etc. I was expecting to leave more broke, but surprisingly it was affordable. As a newcomer, I will definitely making another pit stop at this location to work on my golf game!
Angel Boucher 