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Painting Pastel – A space where 3D Art meets community spirit for a sip-and-paint
Pictures of the Painting Pastel 2025 event
Kaieteur News – When self-taught artist Mariah Lawrence first launched Painting Pastel, it was more than a sip-and-paint event, it was a personal challenge for her to help people overcome self-doubt and foster creativity.
What began as a way to overcome self-doubt within the community has now blossomed into a space for celebration of creativity, collaboration, and giving back.
On August 3, 2025, Painting Pastel hosted its third annual event, Painting Pastel 3D, at the Regency Suites Hotel. This year, Lawrence introduced a bold new twist: guiding over 60 attendees through not only acrylic painting but also adding three-dimensional textures to their canvases being happy to introduce this technique to the public.
The interactive experience stood out for its unique approach. While Lawrence led from the front, a team of local artists were recruited to work through the crowd, offering one-on-one guidance to ensure even first-timers left with artwork they could be proud of. Guests enjoyed a relaxed setting with wine, finger foods, games, and prizes ranging from spa treatments to ATV tours.
Self-taught artist, Mariah Lawrence created Painting Pastel as a space where 3D Art meets community spirit
This year Painting Pastel not only saw new attendees guided through a painting that they’ve never done before, but they were also guided through a completely new art form and whilst they may have been apprehensive with the help of the volunteering artists in the crowd, painting pastel was able to produce 60+ textured/3-D paintings for the first time ever.
But beyond the fun, the event carried a deeper purpose. For the first time, Painting Pastel partnered with Eiripan, a nonprofit supporting education in Guyana’s Rupununi region. A portion of proceeds went toward its projects, blending art with advocacy.
Added to the evening’s impact, the event also doubled as a mini art exhibition, showcasing works from local Guyanese artists giving them visibility while enriching the creative atmosphere.
Reflecting on the event, Lawrence shared her vision: “Painting Pastel isn’t just about art, it’s about proving to people that creativity is for everyone, regardless of background or experience.”
With plans to continue expanding and partnering with community organizations, she asserted that Painting Pastel is shaping up to be more than an event, it’s becoming a movement.
The annual sip-and-paint event is a way for Lawrence to not only promote creativity and spontaneity within the community, but also as a way to encourage her own personal development.
She understands that even though individuals go to these painting sessions not everyone grasps the same concept or understands a certain process at the same speed because of this, painting pastel not only as a guide in front of the room but also recruited local and talented artists to be in the crowd constantly checking in on individuals walking around and helping individuals better process the experience, it is because of this extra personal touch that painting pastel has been able to successfully cater to individuals with no prior creative background, and still able to produce beautifully crafted paintings.
With the community still in mind, Lawrence said it is not only was this new art form introduced, but local talented artists were also given an opportunity to have their own personal paintings on display at the event.
The artist acknowledged that there were individuals that would like to be creative, but doubt themselves due to lack of skill, lack of experience or simply “wasn’t born with it” but being self-taught, she knew that all of this was only in there and thought what better way to encourage creativity and help to fight against this greatly accepted widespread self-doubt by hosting her own painting sessions.
Not only will she be tackling this observed problem head on but she would also be forcing herself into large social gatherings which would force her to sharpen her social skills and thus painting pastel was created.
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