STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK
Most of them didn’t have a painterly stroke in their bodies—they’d spent their careers in ophthalmology, rheumatology, the theater.
But Friday evening they started slappin’ paint. And by the end of the evening they were happily comparing themselves to the likes of French impressionist Claude Monet.
It was an Art-n-Spirits party, now trending in the arts world. Put simply, it was a chance to sip spirits, slap paint and laugh—a lot.
The ringleader was John Lewis, an artist who specializes in metal craft but who also learned how to wield a paint brush from his artist mother who was always sticking a crayon in his chubby hand.
Over the course of the evening, he promised, he would guide everyone from start to finish, beginning with the idea of what to paint.
“This gives everybody a chance to check out and be creative,” said Lewis, who used to do similar work with adolescent drug abusers in the wilderness. “You start with a basic design and add highlights to bring it to life. As you add time and creativity, details emerge.”
He turned to address the 11 painters in the room:
“We’re going to start with the basics, which is the same with life. You guys are the paintings. Your parents add a little bit to your painting. Then others chip in. As you go through life, you add highlights that bring your story to life.”
The budding artists loaded up on quesadillas, guacamole and chips and a roasted pepper/cream cheese dip that someone had brought. Then they headed to their easels set up on tables in the nexStage Theatre.
“Okay, everybody start!” Lewis said, provoking a round of laughter.
For this evening he had decided that they should paint a picture of a sheep in honor of his grandfather, who grew up in Hammett and herded sheep near Mountain Home.
To provide a little inspiration, he showed his own painting of a sheep bursting with personality-- and knobby knees.
“The thing about acrylics paint—it’s like cheap oil paint,” he said. “It dries fast so if you screw up, let it dry, come back to it and paint over it.”
The artists started by roughing out a circle—the body of their sheep. Then each dipped a bigger brush into a dab of blue paint on a paper plate that served as their palette.
Lewis worked the room, offering such tips as how to introduce light into the painting.
“Make sure you don’t dip your brush into your wine!” Lewis cautioned them. “You want to make the sky darker at the top. And show light by making your sheep a little darker on one side.”
“We’re doing light?! What if we want to make a black sheep?!” quipped Patsy Wygle, as a chorus of groans arose.
As they finished roughing in the sky, Lewis told them to decide where their sheep is at.
“In my apartment on 85th Street in New York,” offered Keith Moore, who worked in soap operas, commercials and theater before moving here.
“Ohmigoodness!” marveled John Lewis’ wife Trish, as she watched Patsy Wygle begin roughing in skyscrapers against her midnight blue sky. “Some of these artists have gone their own direction—that’s for sure!”
As others began painting green meadows beneath their sheep, Moore tried to figure out what would best serve a sheep in New York.
“It’s either going to be the Hudson River or a garbage dump,” he said.
He settled for both, placing his sheep on a garbage barge in the Hudson River.
Lewis showed the painters how to make the back legs shorter to differentiate them from the front legs.
“Sheep are comical because they have these spindly legs,” he said. “And they have humongous ears.”
Moore gave his sheep a mask-like face.
“It’s Phantom of the Sheep. No, it’s a mafia sheep.”
An hour and a half after they started, the artists began critiquing one another’s work.
“When I came here, I thought I could only draw stick figures. Look at this!” said Bobbi Hunt, looking at her fleshed-out sheep at home in the mountains.
“We’re going to save our paintings for our son Jamie’s first home!” Patsy Wygle quipped.
She paused. “I’ve always done music. I’ve always done theater. I’ve done a little pottery. But never this. John makes you not afraid to try it.
“I love that he gives you something to key off,” she added. “It’s like Stephen Sondheim said, ‘If you tell me to write a love song, I’d have a lot of trouble. But if you tell me to write a love song about a girl with a red dress who goes into a bar and is on her fifth martini…that’s a lot easier.’ ”
This is the fourth such party that Jane and Tom Allen have been to. They attended two orchestrated by their daughter Maggie Allen, an artist in New York. And they attended John Lewis’ first party, which he based around the red Sun Valley barn.
“It’s a fun way to spend time with your friends, a fun way to be creative,” said Jane. “And it doesn’t matter what your finished product looks like—it’s just fun to do.”
“It’s really fun. Everyone smiling, making fun of each other. How fun is that!?” added Moore.
Lewis would eventually like to offer Art-n-Spirits monthly. For information, contact fishbigwood@gmail.com or 208-471-0401.