Looking for a new way for your friends and family to have fun?  Sherrie Savage of Car-Go Paint has got an idea for you!  For a fee of $25 or $30 a person, Sherrie will direct a group of people to paint a picture based either on a theme of the group’s choosing, or a theme apropos of the setting.  Sherrie provides table easels, canvases, paint, brushes, aprons, and experienced guidance on how to make your painting as beautiful as possible.  As one of Grandmont Rosedale’s newest pop-up businesses, Sherrie also has an attractive idea for fellow local small businesses: she holds drop-in classes at bakeries and coffee shops, because, after all, who wouldn’t want something sweet or a lovely cup of coffee while creating a masterpiece?

As an added attraction for local businesses, Sherrie offers the business owners who host her events five of her own paintings customized to the particular businesses.  Business owners can hang the paintings in their shops, post photos of them on Facebook, or display them in the window.  Whatever they choose to do with the paintings, they now have five original pieces of art that feature their businesses.

Sherrie is also sticking to businesses close to home.  While she is happy to travel to homes outside of Detroit, the businesses she partners with are all within the city.  “I love my city and I want to support my city.”  Sherrie is an illustrator by trade, but she is also dedicated to forming and encouraging relationships among the people who take her classes, the businesses in Detroit, and among neighbors in Grandmont Rosedale.  In many ways, this new venture is a labor of love for Sherrie.  Car-Go Paint is a unique combination of her skills and education and her sense of belonging to a neighborhood that values its artists.  She is a 2008 Illustrations graduate of the College for Creative Studies, a graphic designer with the Southfield Public Library, and a Grandmont resident and GRDC homebuyer.

Sherrie knew she was onto something when she hosted her first Car-Go Paint event for eight women who were all friends, one of whom was celebrating her birthday.  The women and the owner of the bakery where the event was held “loved it, “according to Sherrie, and encouraged her to keep going.   Inspired, but a bit apprehensive, Sherrie wondered what the next step should be in building her business.  This is where her idea for Car-Go came from.  As a mobile painting class, Sherrie not only saves the money she would spend on a storefront, the mobility also allows Sherrie the freedom to hold painting events in private homes or a tea shop or a bookstore or to a library.  It’s an original idea, as Sherrie says, “for groups of friends or families who are just looking for something different to do.”

One family that Sherrie worked with painted portraits of the family dog.  The family submitted a photograph of the dog to Sherrie about a week before the class.  Sherrie painted a complete portrait and then sketched the outline on the other canvases the family members were to paint.  From dad to kid, everyone had his/her own painting of the dog when the class was over.  If you don’t have a theme in mind for your painting, but would like to try your hand at it anyway, maybe your favorite hobby could be the theme, or a place you love or your favorite flower or even sports team.

If you’re not sure, or if you are sure and can’t wait to get started, Sherrie welcomes you to check out Car-Go Paint.  Sherrie will be holding drop-in classes every Tuesday in September from 7-9pm at Always Brewing Detroit, 19180 Grand River.  In commemoration of GRDC’s 25th anniversary, each Tuesday the theme will be a different Grandmont Rosedale neighborhood.  For the first Tuesday, September 2, Minock Park will be the theme and painters will paint a Minock Park neighborhood sign designed by Sherrie.  You can purchase tickets by going to Eventbrite.com and search “Car-Go Paint Special Event:  Paint Your neighborHOOD Sign – Minock Park”.  You can buy tickets at the door, but space is limited to 15.  After September, Sherrie will be hosting two events every second and fourth Sunday until December at the pop-up space at 19560 Grand River.  You can keep up with Sherrie’s events easily via Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/cargopaint.

For old and young, experienced or not, painting with a group of friends while also supporting a local business does sound like fun, a new kind of fun.