Dinata Misovec

Sister Barbara signed us up for a painting party/class. I had no idea what to expect.

The event was held in a very large garage behind an even larger house that already had a three-car garage. There were about thirty women in attendance. First, we chatted and nibbled on the spread of food laid out in the garage kitchen.

The instructor had already painted a version of our artwork. I was concerned that I would never be able to draw a crab. I didn’t need to. She provided us with a line drawing on a sheet of paper and a sheet of carbon paper.

We painted the background boards first. I was pleased with how mine turned out. A little dab of two or three colors on the brush and, voila!, wood grain. I drew the lines between the boards with a fat Magic Marker and a ruler.

Next, we traced the crab onto the dried background, nibbling more snacks while the paint dried. We also walked around to check out everyone else’s work. All that was left was to paint the crab. For those who don’t know, that is part of the Maryland state flag on the crab’s shell. That crab/flag has become the defacto state logo. It is on everything these days. (I got the t-shirt.)

It was tedious work. The instructor had provided us with a Papa brush, a Mama brush, and a baby brush. The baby brush was too big for parts of the task, and our flags were messy. Most of us did not have our paintings finished at the end of the party. So, I went out the next morning and bought a set of small brushes in the toy aisle of the drug store. Barbara and I painted our masterpieces for the next two days. Brother-in-Love Tom took our pictures when we were satisfied that the paintings were done.

Since we are now artists, I suggested that we paint some rocks. Barbara went outside and found a few for us to paint, and we got to work. I didn’t take pictures of those before burying mine in the RV. Barbara’s rock was not done. Later.