Surprisingly Artists

For me, one of the most interesting things when I move to a new place is to get to know the neighbors. Even though I moved to Topock/Golden Shores just a couple of years ago, I already had my place in town where I spent weekends, vacations, and work remotely during the pandemic. The transition was very slow, but as I wrote in previous articles, the ones who live here full-time have more chances to develop friendships and relationships with the locals than the part-timers.

For the past several months, I have had the pleasure of meeting very talented people throughout the town. I got to see them closer in a small group I started with a few ladies in my neighborhood meeting weekly. We started painting pictures with "paint by number." Since I am not very artistic, that was the easiest way I would accomplish any art. The other ladies, as they started joining our group, started letting their talent surface. Actually, I was the one who did not know that they were very good artists already when I humbly invited them over my house to join me in my "paint by number" weekly meetings.

As time went by, I noticed that some of them held the paintbrush a certain way, made the strokes in a certain direction, mixed the paint with a percentage of water, and other tricks that I never knew before I met them. That was when I realized they were true artists!

After about a year, we realized that the "paint by number" was not sparkling the creativity of the group anymore. We needed to move to something else. Maybe something that we can use, gift to someone, sell, donate, or display to the outsiders. Among the variety of items we painted, one of the talented ladies started something that is catching the eyes of the community. She sells these items for $10, and all goes to the VFW as a donation.

If you visit the VFW you will see them on display.