Painting lady paints the town with successful Pahrump business

If you ever wanted to learn to paint an object or a landscape then the person known simply as “the painting lady,” may be an ideal place to start.

Toni Wombaker is the painting lady and is the owner of “Paint Drips and Sips.”

Wombaker is mostly a self-taught local artist, who goes around town to places like Mountain Falls Grill Room and other restaurants where she holds painting sessions. People pay her and they follow step-by-step instructions to paint a painting that she does right in front of them. It is a simple process, she paints and people follow her strokes.

Randy Mudge, the golf professional at Mountain Falls, has her paint at the Grill Room at Mountain Falls. He got her in there to get more people to use the facilities.

“When she goes there, she fills the room,” Mudge said.

Wombaker started doing this after a friend had been invited to a wine and paint session in another city.

“My friend went to this paint session where they served her wine while she painted,” Wombaker said. “She told me, ‘You should do this, you can do something like this here.’ And that’s how I got started.”

Wombaker does at least one painting session a week and she will usually have them in restaurants or at Mountain Falls Golf Course.

“They follow my lead but don’t have to paint exactly what I paint,” she said.

She lets people be creative.

“When I do a session there may be 40 people painting and I will not get a single painting that looks the same,” Wombaker said.

She provides all the painting materials.

“People just show up,” she said. “I provide the canvas, paint and brushes. The prices vary depending on the size of the canvas. It is more of a social experience than a painting one.”

Wombaker keeps the price affordable. She charges between $20-$25 per session, and sometimes $35 for a bigger canvas.

Longtime interest

Wombaker learned to paint at an early age. She doesn’t describe herself as a professional artist.

“I was 15 when I started painting and it just came naturally to me,” she said. “I learned from my mom, who was a phenomenal painter.”

Wombaker said the majority of the people that show up do so just to be with friends or to socialize.

“I saw Toni (Wombaker) advertising online and it looked fun and so I went,” Rose Ann Kinnie said. “I can’t paint my way out of a paper bag. It’s relaxing to paint with her. She is so positive. I have zero experience and never took a formal class, but I am successful in her class. It is also a way to meet new people.”

Jackie Boyett enjoys Wombaker’s painting sessions too. So much so she has been there 14 times.

“I am artistically challenged,” Boyett said. “I consider myself a preschool painter but she provides step-by-step instructions. But I go for the people and to socialize. It’s the group of people that I like. I go to relax and enjoy the company and I have also learned a lot about art.”

Boyett said she has learned so much that she now can appreciate what it takes to paint.

Boyett feels Wombaker encourages creativity.

“There is a lot of encouragement from the people that are there,” she said. “It’s an amazing experience and she doesn’t overwhelm you with the colors or anything. There is usually food there and it takes about two hours to complete a painting.”

Wombaker will do just about any amount of people, but she likes to keep it between 10-40 people.

For more information, she can be reached at 775-209-4910.

Contact sports editor Vern Hee at vhee@pvtimes.com