Carol Whitmore-Meydrich, left, Sheila Brannon, and Gabriela Bourque display their Painting with a Purpose artwork. A Painting with a Twist franchise has scheduled its grand opening in Meridian at 3401 North Hills St., Suite A, for Thursday, Nov. 11. Call (601) 282-5575 or visit the website www.paintingwithatwist.com/meridian for more information.

    In an ongoing commitment to give back to their communities, the four New Orleans area locations of Corks N Canvas and their 32 franchises, called Painting with a Twist (www.paintingwithatwist.com), hold monthly fundraisers called Painting with a Purpose. The studios hold step-by-step instructional art classes – you bring the beverage, they supply the paints, easel, art teacher, and you create a great painting, which you proudly take home. October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and many of the studios have partnered with organizations fighting the disease.

    They have an inspiring story to tell.  A featured painting for October is the pink breast cancer ribbon paired with a fleur-de-lis, entitled Fight Dat. In the Metairie studio of Corks N Canvas, the event, held on Oct. 8, became an inspiring and impromptu tribute not only to breast cancer survivors, but to fellow survivors of other types of cancer, and the ribbons and fleur-de-lis in the paintings became rainbow-hued in honor of their suffering and courage. As other studios reported the successes of their events, many reported that they had had repeated requests for the Fight Dat painting.

     The original painting was created as a special request for a Painting with a Twist private party at the Lake Charles studio to celebrate a woman’s “clean bill of health” from her follow-up breast cancer tests. The artist-teacher is Allison Milliron, who dedicated the painting to her mother, Jenny, who had breast cancer in her early thirties.

    Now, at 65, Jenny is “running full steam ahead” and is currently opening a Painting with a Twist in Meridian, on Nov. 11 (www.paintingwithatwist.com/meridian).

    Jenny’s brother died last year of lung cancer and her husband, Allison’s father, died last year from pancreatic cancer. Jenny has “leaned on the Lord through it all” and is moving from Alabama to Mississippi to start a new life as proud owner of a Painting with a Twist. In a moving “twist,” the customers in Metairie unknowingly paid tribute to Allison’s family, their tragic losses and their bravery.