Education & Classes in Egypt Lake-Leto

Far from being an artist possessed, Patty Sisco derives the same benefit from painting as she does from a long bubble bath. "All you are thinking about is your brushstrokes, not your bills," she told the Bloomingdale-Riverview Patch, speaking to the therapeutic value of her classes at Sketch and Sip. These sessions supply students of all backgrounds—including those who have never before lifted a brush—with canvas, tools, and a step-by-step demonstration on how to create their own vibrant masterpieces. As they work, Patty encourages her guests to imbibe drinks they've brought from home and plays serene music to prompt creative flow. She moves throughout the room to offer tips on technique and helps with corrections in case students’ hands slip or they change their minds about adding a goatee to their horse portrait.

Though the classes, which have been featured on NBC's Daytime, are responsible for much of the studio's reputation, Patty also plans other community craft events. Each week on Wacky Wine Glass Wednesday, visitors embellish cups with fetching colors and patterns, and a full-time potter teaches specialty ceramics lessons that result in handmade tableware. Artists can even customize an image for their friends or family to paint during private parties, teaching children to color in SpongeBob SquarePants and encouraging coworkers to bond by sketching each other's staplers.

Professional nature photographers Les Voorhis and Jason Hahn strive to find the perfect balance between modern technology and the raw majesty of mother nature. Through multiple decades of experience, they each got pretty good at it, and decided to start Outdoor Photo Workshops to share their knowhow with aspiring shutterbugs.

Charlie Parker set his clay career spinning in 1967 at age 14 when he worked as a part-time clay-mixer at Minnesota Clay Company. As his passion began to flourish, he chased it to the studio of Warren Westerberg, working as an apprentice and molding himself into a master of form and expression. Today, Charlie's 3,600-square-foot workshop offers plenty of space for classes and open-studio time. Under his guidance, aspiring artists of all experience levels make their own projects from Continental and Laguna clays available for purchase. Charlie's artisans also offer their own pieces for sale in the gallery, including figurines and bottles guaranteed to be free of tricksome genies.

Though their flight school has racked up some impressive recognition—including the prestigious 2012 President's Award from the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA)—John Amundsen and his Tailwheels, Etc. team eschew pomp and circumstance in favor of fun. According to Jill W. Tallman of Flight Training magazine, you won't "see flight instructors in epaulets. In the summertime, everybody wears shorts and T-shirts—instructors and students alike." The crew hosts weekly cookouts to promote a welcoming, social atmosphere and has created a community room where budding aviators can learn from private pilots and former military and airline pilots.

As Tallman reported, Amundsen meant to retire in Florida after his aviation career but now finds himself happily running the family business. His son Jonathan has been flying since the age of 2 and heads up the aircraft-maintenance department with the help of his wife—flight instructor and mechanic Liz Amundsen. The couple restored their 1940 Stearman Kaydet so people could experience the thrill of flying an open-cockpit biplane. Their infant son Riley is currently training for an aviation career by plotting flight paths for the airplane mobile above his crib.

Tailwheels, Etc. is one of the first flight schools in the country to be accredited by the Flight School Association of North America (FSANA). The school specializes in an accelerated, two-week private pilot-training program that gets students into the air quickly and safely.

Orlando Gateway Sport Pilot Aviation Center's Jonathan Johns first encountered the spectacle of aerial navigation at an early age, when he attended a soccer game that hosted the Navy's flight-demonstration squadron, the Blue Angels. It was love at first sight. Since then, Jonathan has flown more than 51 single or multiengine aircrafts and pterodactyls. His partner, Roger Frechette, has logged more than 5,000 hours of flight time since he took to the skies back in the 1960s. Together they have gathered a team of experienced instructors to help spread their love of cloud wrangling and maintain a fleet of meticulously cared-for, FAA-approved aircrafts, including Cessnas, the A22 Valor, Tecnam Bravo, and P-1 Paradise. From their base at Kissimmee Gateway Airport, the pilots lead sport-pilot-training flights, and their crafts carry pairs of sightseers over the area's most beloved landmarks, such as Disney World and Old Town Orlando.