Brisbane Hens Party Paint and Sip Recap at Covent Garden: A Flower Cart, A Surprise Bride And A Runaway Trolley
Brisbane, West End, a private room up a flight of stairs, and a bride to be who had absolutely no idea what she was walking into. This was a chill hens session at Covent Garden, 90s and 00s tunes cranking, sandstone walls, old timber doors and a flower cart slowly coming to life on every easel in the room. The group were chatty, friendly and up for it from the first brushstroke. Winter sun beamed in through the old doors, which is about as cold as Brisbane ever pretends to get, though the wind had a few ideas of its own. We will get to those. First we have to talk about the trolley, because the night very nearly ended before it began, in a pile of art supplies across a West End footpath. We got the best bits on camera.
The West End warm-up nobody planned
Here is a free tip for anyone heading into West End on a busy day. There is no such thing as a close park. The place is bonkers from open to close, so we ended up a fair hike from the venue with a full load of gear to wheel in. The trolley we use to move it all picked that exact moment to give up on life. One wheel let go, and the art supplies went sailing across the path and out onto the road. You have to laugh. So we did. Then we loaded it back up, kept walking, and it happened again. The second time, nobody laughs. A small crowd of West Enders just stood and watched Trent chase brushes across the bitumen like he had never carried anything in his life, not one of them lifting a finger. Character building, we are calling it.
Upstairs, the night more than made up for the footpath. Covent Garden handed us a private room with bags of character, sandstone walls, old timber doors, and a big wash of winter sun pouring straight through them onto the easels.
A flower cart, a parasol and a sandstone wall
The painting for the session was a flower cart shaded by a big striped parasol, set against a warm sandstone wall, with blooms spilling out of the cart in every direction. The kind of scene that looks effortless until you are the one holding the brush, staring at a blank canvas, trying to remember the last time you painted anything at all.
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 went soft and pastel, some loaded the cart with big bold blooms, some leaned right into those warm sandstone tones. There is no wrong answer on a Paint Juicy canvas, only the version each painter brings to it. For a group where plenty had not picked up a brush since school, the flower carts that came off those easels were genuinely brilliant. Everyone did a cracking job.
90s, 00s and a cheeky Brisbane wind
The soundtrack was all 90s and 00s, the kind of playlist that turns a quiet room chatty and a chatty room loud. No big stage show on a chilled session like this one, just the tunes, the brushes and a group who clearly loved each other's company. Brisbane does not really do cold, but it does do wind, and every so often a gust would come barrelling through those old doors and try to relocate a canvas or two clean off the easels. Cue a scramble, a few shrieks and a lot of laughing. Nothing a quick rescue and a re-pin could not sort out.
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 afternoon together is the bit you actually came for, even if you did not know it when you sat down.
The bride had no idea, and loved it
Here is the lovely part. The bride to be did not know she was coming to a paint and sip at all. Her crew kept the whole thing under wraps, walked her up those West End stairs, and let the flower carts and the playlist do the rest. By her own account she loved every minute of it, which is exactly the result you want when someone has gone to all the trouble of planning a surprise. A chilled, chatty, sun-and-wind Brisbane hens session, and a bride who went home with a canvas and a story.
Have a look for yourself.
Massive thanks to the whole crew for having us, to Covent Garden for the room with all that light, and to the bride to be for being such a good sport about the surprise. We run hens sessions and paint and sip in Brisbane all year round. If you are after something low-key, our chilled hens party ideas guide is full of relaxed ways to celebrate. Planning your own? A private paint and sip session or a hens paint and sip gives you the room, the music and the whole night to yourselves, and we will bring the flower carts. For even more ways to do it, the hens night ideas hub has the lot.
See you at the next one. Trent & James.
Plan your own hens paint and sip
Want the room, the tunes and the whole night to yourselves? A private hens paint and sip sorts the lot, the bride does not even need to know it is coming.
Or grab seats at a public night. Pick your state.
