Ballina Paint and Sip Recap at The Shaws Bay Hotel: Santorini Skies and Festoon Lights
Ballina, you rugged up, you sang up, and you painted a slice of the Greek Islands while the river twinkled away outside. The Shaws Bay Hotel switched on every festoon and fairy light it owns, the pizzas and the big plates kept coming, the cocktails did exactly what a good cocktail should do on a cold night, and a whole room of woolly jumpers settled in to paint Santorini. Lotti Rem was meant to be on the mic, but she was crook as a dog, so Trent and James carried the night between the two of them. Trent ran the easel and walked the room through every brushstroke. James took the mic and ran the room with the kind of hosting that should not work and somehow always does. Singalongs galore, no karaoke takers this time, and not one soul seemed to mind. A cosy, cracking Ballina night on the water, and we got the best bits on camera.
Ballina finally gets a stunner on the water
The Shaws Bay Hotel sits right on the water and has not long come out of a full renovation that has taken it to the absolute max. It is genuinely lovely to see paint and sip in Ballina land a venue this good. Plenty of room to spread out, water on one side, a glowing canopy of festoon and fairy lights overhead, and a team behind the bar who were warm, switched on and genuinely up for the night from the first guest through the door.
The food and the drinks did a lot of the heavy lifting on a chilly evening. Wood-fired pizzas and big warming plates kept coming, and the cocktails were the kind you wrap both hands around when it is cold out. Add a freshly renovated room right on the water and you have a spot that is built for a good night, whether that is a relaxed catch-up, an anniversary, a hens do or a birthday. Ballina has been waiting for a venue like this.
Santorini on the easels, the Mediterranean in the room
The painting for the night was a slice of Santorini, a deep blue arched door set into a warm sandstone wall, a blue pot sitting at its base, pink bougainvillea climbing the render, and the sea and sky glowing behind it. The kind of scene that looks effortless on the wall until you sit down in front of a blank canvas, realise the last thing you painted was a fruit bowl in high school, and the door starts to look like a trick.
This is the bit we love about how a Paint Juicy session runs. Trent breaks the whole thing down stroke by stroke so anyone can follow along, but the colours are entirely yours. Some kept it crisp and classic, a deep blue door against a bright blue sea. Some sent the sky up in sunset oranges and pinks. Some piled the bougainvillea on thick. There is no wrong answer on a Paint Juicy canvas, only the version the painter brings to it.
Ballina ran with it. By the end of the night there were blue doors in every mood you can imagine, seaside-bright sitting next to sunset-warm sitting next to soft and dreamy. Beginners who walked in nervous, convinced they were about to make something they would quietly bin, put down the first wash, found the rhythm, and stopped checking the example entirely. By the time the canvases were signed, every single one belonged to its painter and to nobody else.
Singalongs galore, woollies on, voices up
With Lotti out crook, the singing job fell to the room, and Ballina was more than happy to take it on. The 70s and 80s belters did what they always do, and the whole room came back on every chorus like they had been waiting all week for the excuse. James worked the mic between brushstrokes, keeping the energy up and the laughs coming. There were no takers for the karaoke spot this time, and honestly that is completely fine. Some nights the room would rather sing as one big chorus than hand the mic around, and that is its own kind of magic.
This is the part guests bring up again and again long after the paint has dried. The canvas is the souvenir you carry home. The singalong is the bit you actually came for, even if you did not know it when you sat down.
Brushes down, jumpers on, the cosy bit
By the back half of the night the easels had done their job. The Santorini scenes were dry, the aprons came off, and the room settled into the warm, easy hum of a good night winding down on a cold evening. Everyone had a brilliant time, which is exactly what you want from a winter session on the water, woolly jumpers and all.
Have a look for yourself.
Massive thanks to everyone who came along, and to The Shaws Bay Hotel for having us and putting on a room that good. Ballina sits in a sweet spot, with Grafton paint and sip down the highway to the south and Gold Coast paint and sip just over the border to the north, so there is almost always another Paint Juicy night warming up close by. We run paint and sip across New South Wales year-round. If you would rather have the whole night to yourselves, a private paint and sip session sorts a hens do, an anniversary, a milestone birthday or a work crew without the stress of herding everyone into a public booking.
See you at the next one. Trent & James.
Grab a seat at the next one
Most seats are $59 a head, and we are sitting at 4.8 stars on Google for a reason. Pick your state and find a night that suits.
