Muse Paintbar

Great concept but poor business practices.
Couldn’t make a session due to illness and they would not allow us to change to another date. I can understand this if the session had been sold out, but their were 26 open spots still available and they would not have lost any money… Greed

My daughter and I had gone. She had a blast. The staff there was very helpful and even let us stay a little while longer so my daughter could finish her painting. Great place for any occasion. We will be back.

Had a great time at Muse. They worked with our organization, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and we were able to raise quite a bit of money. From planning to the event itself, Muse was so helpful and attended to all of our needs. I certainly have no artistic ability, but my painting came out great! Kelly was our instructor and she rocked; great music, plenty of breaks to let the paint dry (aka grab a drink!), and she was very skilled and talked us through each step with encouragement along the way. I would highly recommend Muse and I can’t wait to go back!

My husband and I went up to Portland for a long weekend. We’ve been wanting to try a couples painting but all the ones by us either fill up super fast or they are on days we can’t go. This was awesome! We are going to be making this a habit from now on!

This is my second time I’ve gone here and I still am in love. It’s so much fun to go with family, friends, date night and just melt some stress away. There is a different picture everyday. They have an instructor at the front of the class to walk you through the painting, but your allowed to add or not add whatever you like. It’s nice to see something different in portland! I will definitely be returning!

The first time I went to this place it was great. I had a lot of fun. I wanted to go back. So I asked my son if he would like to go with me for his birthday. I called way ahead and they told me I was all set and signed up. There was no mention that I had to pay in advance to keep my spot. Because the first time was for my bday I did not make the reservation.
I called to confirm the time, well it was a good thing I did because she told me I had no reservation and that according to their call logs I never called. My husband confirmed to me that I did. So it was sold out and I had to cancel with my son. Very disappointing!

So you want to paint.
And you want to drink.
Maybe you want to paint while you’re drinking with your friends. If so… Muse Paintbar is the PERFECT outing. Doesn’t matter how creative or how artistic you are, it’s impossible not to have a great time here because chances are you’re coming with people you like, you’re channeling your inner artist, you’re enjoying a little drinky drink and snacky snack, and in the end you get to leave with a keepsake: a one of kind, entirely original and never to be duplicated painting YOU MADE. It’s very cool… and if you live with the people you’re painting with, it’s even cooler to then go home and hang up the alike, yet different pieces of art next to each other.
After visiting Muse Paintbar with a huge group of some of my favorite people, I thought I’d come back for a more quiet, intimate experience. We had so much fun the first time, that we were excited to repeat the outing despite it being on the more expensive end of things. Thankfully, Muse often has coupon codes online that will knock off anywhere from 10% to 15% percent of your total, so for the two of us to paint on a Friday night it was around $ 75 (plus we spent an additional $ 40 for six drinks… not bad, right?).
However, there were some things that kind of bummed us out (FYI, we were here on a Friday night from 8 to 10:30ishpm; and, I honestly think this is why we had some issues):
— There were around 50 people in the room; only 2 of those people were men (my counterpart being one of them). The median age of the women there that night were «early twenty-​somethings» or «middle-​aged». We felt a bit out of place, especially since:
— You don’t get to choose your table mates. The two women we shared an area with abhorred men, and spent the entire time loudly bashing them. It made the person I was with feel very small and unwanted.
— You don’t get to choose your seat, either. We had possibly the worst seats in the entire room — sardined in the very back corner by the windows where the lighting is poor. At 5’2, I couldn’t see the stage at all through the throngs of people or the easels. I frequently had to kneel on top of my steel stool to be able to see anything. Eventually I just gave up entirely and listened to her instructions. Segue…
— Not every instructor is amazing. The first time I came, we had Brianna and she was PERFECT — engaging, helpful, patient, encouraging; this time around we got someone who didn’t seem like they wanted to be there and also didn’t explain what or how she was painting (she also erased parts of her painting only AFTER dictating to us what to do so she could start over… that just didn’t seem right to me).
— Beware the bar: our bartender this time around seemed to get frazzled extremely easy. At one point he was confused as to why we were standing there «in the way» after taking our money… he had never given us our drinks but was already on to the next people in line. And then, when we ordered a $ 9 prosecco the drink we received was either: a) the oldest, most stale prosecco I’ve ever had in my life or b) not prosecco at all. Unfortunately, because of our seats and the large number of people, we couldn’t get back to the bar to ask about it.
Do these things make or break the night? They don’t. But they can be unpleasant if you don’t know what to expect — and, if you think you’re going to get the same experience twice… you’re wrong. If we were to go again we would definitely not come on a weekend night, we would triple check who the instructor was, and we would only order drinks that came in bottles. Still — we had a great time when we focused on just each other and why we were there. And now we’ve got two fabulous paintings with funny stories from that night, so yay!

Last night was my second visit to Muse (the first was a Unilocal event). Let me put this bluntly: a blind man without hands probably has more artistic ability than me. So of course I was worried that I wouldn’t enjoy painting and would embarrass myself. This is definitely not the case at Muse!
The paintbar is set up to resemble a hip art studio (or at least my vision of one). There’s a large main room with easels in various configurations. Each easel has a tray of paint in front and 5 paint brushes. There’s a smaller back room for private parties.
The enthusiastic, skilled and (thankfully) patient instructors are on stage and walk you through the painting of the day, stroke by stroke. They take time to inspect your progress and there’s frequent breaks. It’s a lively and social atmosphere that is pressure-​free. Shockingly, everyone ends up with a very decent painting. I won’t be confused for Van Gogh, but I’m proud of my work.
Also in the main room is a bar that has a solid selection of wine and beer. The house wines are $ 5.75 and are definitely more than 5 ounces, so it’s a great value. There is a food menu that I haven’t tried but looked decent.
Muse would be a perfect date night or just a great night out with friends. It’s casual and very fun, even for those that are paintally challenged.

Been here about 6 times already. Always a great time. Instructors are fantastic, the music awesome, and the wine is tasty!

What a fun night out this is! I booked our paint night with 3 other friends and we really had a great time and came home with some cool art and memories. The staff is great. When we got there they introduced themselves and went over the evenings plans. They reviewed the brushes and the art we would be painting. The instructor went through every step giving tips and tricks along the way. We did a pretty entry level fall scene with birch trees and colored leaves. There was plenty of time to paint, and watch the paint dry while having a glass of wine or a beer, chatting with friends. The atmosphere is really chill, fun and encouraging for all artistic talent levels. I did not try the food, but a couple of my friends did and it was «meh.» That is unfortunate, but I did not come to eat anyways!
I look forward to coming here a few times a year and even bringing the kids!

Had a wonderful time! The instructor Carrie was great! My friend gave me this as a birthday gift and what a fantastic gift it was! It’s a very cool layout!
The only critique I have would be that for newcomers like myself when I walked in there was no direction as to weather or not we needed to check in or what the process was. I asked one of the other patrons and she was super friendly and said you just look for your name on the canvas. After settling in and having a glass of delicious wine it was time to start our masterpieces!

Had my first paint night here a couple days ago. Carrie taught the group and she was awesome. She was engaging easy going energetic and bubbly. She was always around to help guide all of the artists there and offer suggestions with technique and color. The painting I did was the hazy forest. There was a small bar and kitchen to buy beer wine or some snacks. The bar tender also does classes and was able to offer some tips if asked. They also took lots of pictures if you wanted both posed and candid shots and posted on facebook for you to see. Everyone had such different paintings from each other and from the master copy that we were replicating. Creative differences were encouraged and they all came out looking great. I hung my painting up at home and can’t wait to go again.

I decided to surprise my wife with a date night trip to Muse Paint Bar.
Considering she is an artist… I figured this was something she’d love.
And boy… was I ever right.
The atmosphere inside Muse is energetic, hip, vibrant, and bright.
And the other painters there were all VERY nice, polite, and fun to hang out with. In the next room was a very lively and fun group of women having a bachelorette party.
There are colors and paintings everywhere… the exposed wood and pipes
fit right in as how you’d expect a place like this to look. Definitely adds character.
The drinks were not outrageously priced… I paid $ 4 for a beer and my wife $ 5 for a small glass of wine. We didn’t have food, but the menu was unique and had options for any palette.
We looked at the menu and decided we would eat there next time… but really, it’s more of a place to meet with friends, have a drink, and paint your masterpiece.
You get a pretty large canvas, paints, and everything else you need… and can take the painting home with you.
All in all, we were VERY happy with our experience at Muse and would definitely go again and recommend others who want something different to do in Portland… this is definitely different.

Great time, wonderful helpful people! Thank you! Great date night, sister, mom or friend night. Good selection of wine or beer :-)