This is a question I pondered this past week.  I have a group of friends and before people started marrying and having kids we used to be quite the indulgent girls with frequent spa days and weekend getaways and the infamous “book club” which brought us together.  Hint – not much reading took place but plenty of eating and drinking did!  We get together way too infrequently now but had all decided to do something this summer and were looking for a fun activity.  I had seen a number of people who went to this new place where you paint an actual painting and drink, ah yes, anything with wine should work for us.

I went ahead and made reservations.  A few things we all have in common – type A personalities (3 lawyers and a banker) and a complete lack of artistic skills.  They all claimed that due to my general craftiness I would have an advantage at painting and this is when the difference between being crafty and being artistic arose.

Merriam-Webster defines “artistic” as:

2

:  showing imaginative skill in arrangement or execution<artistic photography>

 

while crafty is defined as:

1

:  skillful, clever

2

a :  adept in the use of subtlety and cunning

 

b :  marked by subtlety and guile <a crafty scheme>

 

I kind of see as the difference between cooking and baking.  Any food tv host will tell you there is a huge difference and it involves the precision with which you need to follow the recipe.  Cooking allows you to deviate and improvise with ingredients and amounts.  When baking, measurements and ingredient must be precise or you risk ruining the final product.  In the kitchen, I’m definitely a baker.  I can follow any recipe you give me but throw me some random ingredients and tell me to cook and I’m screwed.

 

Likewise I can craft anything with instructions and materials.  But to come up with something out my head on the spot – not going to happen.  So being presented with a blank canvas and a paper plate with a few paint colors was a little daunting.

They walk you through step by step with many wine breaks along the way.  My friends and I were very stressed about making the paintings perfect, or at least close to the one on display.  Lucky for us we kept drinking wine so either we became more artistic or our view of our work became a little more lax but by the end of night we thought we weren’t half bad.

 

And this is the final product!

It was a very fun night but I think I’ll stick to my yarn and needles and stay away from paint.  So, are you artistic or crafty??  Something to think about!