Davistown Paint and Sip Recap at The Davo RSL: Santorini Sunday on the Central Coast

Sundays hit different. The Davo RSL did its part. Lotti held the dancefloor like she owned it. James's sister Natalie kept defending her unofficial title as best singer in the room. Then her cousin and aunty turned up for their first Paint Juicy night and joined in like they'd been coming for years. Here's how the Davistown 70s and 80s Sunday session went down.

The Davo RSL on a sunny Sunday and a packed function room

The Davo. The local nickname for Davistown RSL Club, perched right on the edge of Empire Bay. Hills out the window, water nearby, a function room that fills up easy and a dancefloor big enough for the back half of the session to turn into a dance party. Sunday day session, doors open early, sun streaming through the windows, the room ticking over from chatty arrival energy into focused painting mode within about fifteen minutes of the host hitting the mic.

The kitchen and bar made it easy. Drinks moved fast, food orders came out hot, plates were genuinely big and looked the part. Nothing kills a paint and sip like waiting forty minutes for a glass of wine. The Davo had it dialled in.

Santorini scenes with a Davistown twist: bougainvillea, lemon trees and yellow walls

The artwork for the day was the Paint Juicy Santorini. You know the one. Blue door, white wall, deep blue Aegean behind, the whole Greek island fantasy in a single canvas. We've run this painting in a few markets now and every time we keep tweaking it. For Davistown we leaned in further. Bougainvillea climbing up over the doorway in hot pink and red. A lemon tree in a pot, fruit hanging heavy, leaves loose and green. Warm yellow walls instead of the usual stark white. Soft sandy ground at the base. Some pots, some plants, some sunlight.

The variation made the room. One guest built her bougainvillea up like a wall of flowers. One went minimalist with a single elegant lemon tree against a navy door. One painted the sea in three layers of blue and added little white sailboats. One added shells along the bottom edge. The Santorini brief gives every guest a strong starting point and then leaves room for the personal touches that turn it into theirs. That's the whole point.

Lotti Rem on the mic, then the family band took over

Day sessions have a different rhythm to night sessions. The light is bright, the energy is sociable rather than rowdy, and people bring a different kind of focus to their canvases. Lotti read the room and ran the playlist accordingly. 70s and 80s tracks for the painting hours. Carole King, Fleetwood Mac, ABBA, Blondie, Bowie, Dolly, Elton, the lot. Singalong moments built into every layer of the painting. Then once brushes went down, the playlist tipped over into the dancier end of the catalogue and the floor filled up.

Natalie, James's sister, was back. The Penrith duet was apparently not the end of it. She came along ready, took the mic when Lotti held it out, and held the room. Two voices, one chorus, the whole front section joining in for the backing vocals like they'd been to a rehearsal. James, naturally, could not let his sister run the show without a challenge.

Then it got better. James and Natalie's cousin and aunty rolled in for their very first Paint Juicy session. Watching first-timers find the rhythm of one of these afternoons is genuinely one of the best parts of the job. Within the first half hour they were singing along, swapping notes with the people next to them, asking about colour mixing, getting stuck into the bougainvillea. By the dancefloor part of the afternoon they were grooving along with the rest of the room like they'd been to ten of these.

Why a Sunday day session is its own thing

Most Paint Juicy nights are exactly that, nights. Friday and Saturday evenings, function rooms, low light, big choruses. Sundays bring something else. A different crowd shows up. Mums and daughters at the same table. Neighbours who finally said yes to the invite. Friends who needed a reason to get out of the house with the kids dropped at the grandparents. The painting tends to get more love and detail because there's daylight on the canvas. Then the dancefloor still fills because nobody comes to a Paint Juicy session and not sing along.

If you've never done a day session, give one a go. The vibe is warmer, the room feels brighter, and you finish up with hours of Sunday afternoon still left to enjoy.

Want a private Paint Juicy session on the Central Coast?

Public sessions like this Davistown one run regularly across the Coast. Private sessions are something else again. Our private bookings start at $700 flat for the first 10 guests, then $65 per extra head, with a 10-paid-seat minimum. Hens nights, milestone birthdays, team building, Christmas parties, baby showers, bridal showers, fundraisers and corporate events all run on the same private format. Pick your venue, pick your theme, we come to you and run the night.

What is a Paint Juicy session, exactly?

Three hours, one canvas, no painting experience required. We bring everything: easels, canvases, paints, brushes, aprons, the host, the mic, the lights, the sound. You bring your group, your favourite drink and the willingness to belt out a chorus when the moment lands. Paint Juicy is 100% mobile. We come to the venue, set up around you and pack down at the end.

Public sessions are $59 per person standard. Bottomless sessions at licensed venues are $99 with the venue handling the food and drinks. All events are 18+. Bottomless and nude life drawing sessions are strictly 18+.

Big love to The Davo crowd, to Lotti for running the room, to Natalie for refusing to give up the mic, to her cousin and aunty for jumping into their first Paint Juicy session like total naturals, and to James for not letting his big sister win without a fight. After we packed down, James, Natalie and the puppies Penelope and Bert headed up to Erina for a quick dinner before everyone scattered home. Sunday well spent. We'll see you at the next one.