Painting with passion at Muhlenberg

Throughout the evening, Johnson called out various tips to the gathered painters, although she never gave any explicit rules regarding what to paint. Before the actual painting began, she told everyone to go online and find some piece of inspiration from which to paint, insisting that “all art is stolen” from someplace or other. There was no formal instruction at all on Friday, and this roomful of college-age artists, amateurs and masters alike, created artwork depicting everything from doughnuts to Disney characters. Every now and then, Flora would hold up a painting to demonstrate to the crowd how one person blended his or her colors, or how someone else experimented with textures.

“I’ve never painted before in my life,” said freshman Kristen Corless, “so this was very exciting to do. This was probably the best part of my college career as of yet! I enjoyed it thoroughly.” She said her inspiration came from the Twitter logo, and she painted a solitary white bird sitting on a white branch against a baby blue background.

Johnson brings the painting party to colleges throughout Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey. Fall, she said, is “painting season” for her business.

“I’m so grateful to be able to do this for a living,” Johnson said. “I can’t believe I get to introduce new painters—that’s a great feeling, to watch new painters walk away proud of their work.” She advises up-andcoming artists not to “do it for the money, do it ‘cause you love it. Don’t worry about what other people think of your art, it’s for you…you’re not going to like everyone else’s art, don’t expect them to like yours.” She also told a funny story about how her three-year-old daughter was in tears after being named the class artist because she didn’t want to be “a starving artist.” Fortunately, Johnson said, that is not necessarily a requirement for a career in the arts.

“[Painting is] not easy,” Johnson said. “It takes practice like anything else. You don’t go out and play baseball and hit a homerun the first time, you learn techniques. Same thing with painting. You’ve got to walk before you run.”

On Friday night, the Event Space in Seegers Union was full to bursting with excited young artists, eager to hone and sharpen their painting skills. The program was called the “Painting with Passion Art Party.” It was led by art instructor Flora Johnson, who has been running the program for three years.

The event was arranged through the Muhlenberg Activities Council. “It’s our job to greet vendors, to bring them in, but also, we can participate, which is fun,” said junior Suzi Birnbaum, referencing herself and two of the other student workers who were helping with the painting party. “[This event] is one of our favorites.”

There was an informal technique lesson where Johnson went over proper blending methods and taught the group how to correctly clean their brushes and thin the paint with water. Each participant was given a blank canvas, three paintbrushes and a pallet with dollops of red, yellow, blue, black and white paint. One thing she warned her students about was not to be afraid of mixing colors. “I went skydiving and went through natural childbirth before I got over my fear of mixing colors,” she said. “Don’t be afraid of it!”