As noted in our Tablespotting forum today, Raw Canvas has opened in Yaletown. Never saw it or its concept coming. I think I love whichever liquor inspector gave it the go ahead.

From their website:

Welcome to Raw Canvas. We are a gathering point for life-loving humans (artists and non-artists alike) to express themselves freely within the creative process. We are a soul-driven community that supports the cultivation and realization of the artist within, while building community and celebrating life in all of its diversity.

Raw Canvas is an extraordinary social destination built on a vision of unbounded beauty in this world. Driven by the belief in the power of every individual’s unique creative expression, we are a community who gather to share ideas and sentiment in order to deepen individual expression and amplify collective ideals.

We are the renaissance; café, art studio, music venue, social space… many things to many people. Raw Canvas will revolutionize the way you socialize.

[snip]

At the core of every human being is the soul of an artist. Each of us has inherent within us a unique creative ability which, despite our beliefs, is waiting to be unleashed. Beyond being a café where you can have a great coffee and do your work (yes, we have Wi-Fi!), and beyond being a lounge where you can have a glass of wine and get social, Raw Canvas is a full service paint-on-canvas art studio. Come in and buy a canvas. We will provide paints, brushes, and all the supplies you will need to free your inner artist. Our gang, together with our resident artists, will provide encouragement, insight and inspiration to aide you throughout your creative journey.

Raw Canvas was founded for those of us who have an interest in exploring our creative sides, but may not have a space or the time to invest in one.

How cool is that? You just sit there, paint, and drink. That’s awesome. I want one just like it but for cartographers. I could just sit there with a bottle of Merlot, some smuggled-in cheese and my Swiss Army knife from Cub Scouts, totally getting my Magellan on like the world is absent all its borders. But to trouble your oxipetal for ten seconds: how will it fly with the whole poodle-in-a-handbag Zara refugee set?