At the end of August, the Queen City Decorators – which meets each month at Meridian Activity Center – are planning a very special seminar for decorative painters.

    They group is bringing Public Broadcasting Station artist Brenda Harris to Meridian to demonstrate three paintings. In addition to her show, which is broadcast nationally from Jacksonville, Fla., Harris conducts hands-on seminars on her technique all over the country, as well as writes books on painting.

    This is becoming a very lucrative profession. Remember Jon Gnagy in the 1950s who first introduced drawing on television?

    “Ball….cube…..cylinder….cone,” Jon would say at the beginning of his 15-minute program, “Learn to Draw.”

    “By using these four shapes, I can draw any picture I want. And so can you!” Gnagy said. Oddly, he was never paid for his television time; he made money on the royalties from his “Learn to Draw” kits. Jon was a Mennonite who sported a sharp black goatee and wore plaid shirts. (I wonder if Meridian art teacher Homer Casteel

got his look from Mr. Gnagy?)

    In the ’80s, Bob Ross introduced the “Joy of Painting” program for television. He is still painting on PBS Sunday afternoons, though he passed away July 4, 1995. In a voice so soothing that its effect was once compared to Demerol, Mr. Ross encouraged viewers to paint “happy little clouds” and “pretty little mountains.” Bob Ross had his own distinctive look in a bushy haired Afro. He expanded his activities

into a multi-million dollar business by producing a line of how-to books and a line of art supplies with his face on each tube of paint – and courses in which instructors were trained in the Bob Ross method.

    The Queen City Decorators raised funds for the seminar with Brenda Harris by hosting Christmas “Made In the South” bazaars. However these time-consuming bazaars took the focus away from what this group want to do most: Paint. So the Christmas festivals are a thing of the past for now. Monday afternoon and evening classes in Decorative Painting begin again Aug. 13 if you would like to join in the fun.

    If you don’t know anything about decorative painting, you do not need to be afraid of your lack of ability to draw. Most paintings begin by using a stencil which is traced onto the board or canvas and paint is added methodically according to the instructor’s design. Of course, with more confidence, one can vary the colors to fit more with that

individual painter’s pleasure.

    Meridian Activity Center is in the middle of our summer session. Fall session begins Aug.13, and if you’d like to register ahead of time, you are more than welcome. We hope to reintroduce our handbuilt pottery class again, a new daytime Floral arranging class, more Slimnastics afternoon classes, a late morning strength training class – and if we’re lucky, Steve Owen will do another writing class for us!

    We are located at 3300 32nd Ave. Phone (601) 485-1812 for information.

    • Barbara Wells is director of Meridian Activity Center. You may e-mail her at mactivitycenter@gmail.com.