By Ruth Boyles

For years I  had thought maybe there was an artist inside me that just needed to be taught how.  

One year, David Smith, a wonderful artist friend of mine and I were doing some work on Grace Bible Church’s “Living Nativity,” and he invited me to come to a painting class at the Dunmore Senior Center.  

I went, not knowing anything about art except that I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I thought I was just going to learn to paint, which I did.  But more than that I found many new friends.  People I have grown to love.  

I have immensely enjoyed my last nine years at what is presently called the Dunmore Activity Center.  In our sketch class, we have dabbled with watercolors, acrylics, pastels, charcoal on different surfaces, pen and ink, and during the painting time, most of us work with oils. 

We appreciate the help of our teacher, Jill Swersie, as she has very unselfishly given of herself to teach us how to make our paintings take on new dimensions and lives of their own.  We look forward to having her back full time when the Covid business is over.  

For now we are learning from each other.  I have been working on a “commission” of a barn which I especially enjoy painting for someone in the area.  It is special to this person because it was built during the Civil War.

The red barn was painted during a plein air painting day for our class in Scott Run, Pa.