CANORA, SASK.- “This is so much fun.”
This comment by one of the participants summed up the atmosphere as a new season of creative opportunity got underway at the Golden Age Centre in Canora on Sept. 27.
The paint party, once again hosted by Kulchera Nicholson, attracted a full house of nine artists eager to spend time together while exploring their creativity.
“This is the second year for the paint party,” said Nicholson. “It’s so nice to be doing something that takes all our focus, with no cats jumping on the table or kids yelling. I believe something like this is needed for our mental wellness- it requires our hand/eye co-ordination and it’s not on a screen.”
“This stretches a part of your brain that you don’t normally use,” added one of the enthusiastic participants.
For each paint party, Nicholson competes a sample painting, and then encourages participants to follow the basic design but also come up with their own unique features. There's no expectation that you have to stare at a blank canvas and figure out what to do.
This time, she chose to paint a scene of sunflowers.
“With the sunflowers it’s an ode to summer. We have them in our garden, and it’s nice to see them re-seed them every year.”
As they paint Nicholson has soft, relaxing music playing in the background.
The artists began the afternoon by painting the sky.
“Keep it light with the paint,” she reminded them. “Painting too thick takes forever to dry. Keep blending the paint with your brush until it’s nice and smooth, so you don’t see any lines. I find the blue sky makes such a nice contrast to the yellow sunflowers.”
The artists then switched to white paint for some clouds. Of course, the only limit to the shape of clouds is in the artist’s imagination.
“There are really no rules,” said Nicholson. “You can have clouds all over the sky or just in one little area, you decide.”
That was followed by painting a green base for the bottom section of the painting.
“When you get close to the blue, add a bit of water to your brush and do some blending to combine the two colors in that transition area. It’s always good to practise blending.”
Nicholson probably surprised at least some of the artists with her next colour choice.
“We’re going to do something a bit scary now, add black over the green to create some shadows and dimension. We want the coverage to be muddy at this point, since we don’t know exactly where the leaves and flowers will be.”
The next colour was white, to do what Nicholson calls “mapping.”
“Use the white to indicate where there’s going to be flowers. Just for variety, try to make sure they don’t all face the same direction. Also this is the time to add the three wheat heads. In art, we like to paint in groupings of three.”
That was followed with a switch to brown, for the centre of the sunflowers.
“Try not to create a perfect circle, it looks more natural that way,” said Nicholson.
And finally the group painted the wheat, the leaves and other vegetation, and the sunflowers.
The next paint party is set for Oct. 18, with the focus on a glow-in-the-dark jellyfish.
Nicholson said this project has quickly grown into “something much bigger than I expected. The paint parties have been selling out month after month, and the response has made it very clear that there is a real demand for creative social experiences.
“People aren't just coming to paint. They're coming to spend time with friends, meet new people, laugh, relax, and do something completely different from their usual routine. One of the things I've noticed is that paint parties offer a really comfortable way for people to socialize without the pressure that can come with other group activities. You're still surrounded by people, but there's no pressure to perform socially. The activity itself gives you something to focus on.
“Everyone starts with the same guidance, but they're making their own decisions along the way – how they move the brush, how much paint they use, what colours they emphasize, and how they interpret the instructions. So you're not simply reproducing a picture. You're actually making creative decisions and learning to trust your own instincts.”
The popularity of these events has encouraged Nicholson to bring her vision to surrounding communities outside of Canora.
“Paint parties are still a big part of what we do, but Whimsy Creative Club will eventually encompass a variety of creative events and experiences. I'm not quite ready to announce all of the details yet because I'm still putting the pieces together, but the response to the paint parties has given me a lot of confidence that there is a real appetite for this kind of experience.
“There are quite a few things I'm working on, but I'm going to keep a little bit of the mystery for now,” concluded Nicholson.
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