Painting ladies

Published 10:00 am Wednesday, December 20, 2006

On a recent rainy night in Port Orchard a group of women sat around a craft table in a rec room crowded with art supplies, from paints and brushes to ornaments waiting to be painted. They were there to paint gingerbread men ornaments, but they were also there to talk about orphans half a world away who had none of these things. They wanted to change that.

The Puget Sound Tugboat Tolers, the Kitsap-based branch of the international Society of Decorative Painters, has decided to assemble art kits to send to orphans in the West African nation of Sierra Leone.

Service project chairwoman Carolyn Knapp explained that the club chooses a different project every year. This project came about through her connection with siblings Kim and Jeff Witt, local teachers who have traveled to Malawi, on the east coast of Africa, three times to teach orphans there.

“It’s really awesome to see this group allow those over in Africa to benefit from what they’re doing,” Kim Witt said.

The Witts went to Malawi with an organization that has its roots, and home office, in Silverdale.

Children of the Nations was founded in 1995 by Chris and Debbie Clark, who saw the need for an orphans-only assistance organization while on a Youth For Christ mission to Africa. Chris was the organization’s director, but quit to start Children of the Nations.

Today Children of the Nations operates children’s homes in Malawi and Sierra Leone and offers other aid in the Dominican Republic and Uganda.

Knapp said she volunteered to head the service project this year on the condition that it be this project.

“Jeff and Kim came one evening and talked to us about this project,” Knapp said. “Everyone was thrilled to death. We all wanted to jump in with both feet. It’s just such a wonderful (project) — we have so much and these kids have so little.”

The group regularly paints beautiful “memory boxes” for parents whose babies die shortly after birth, which are given to local hospitals. That is a national project. They have also painted cute teddy bears and cheerful bunnies on suitcases for foster children, who otherwise are given plastic garbage bags for their belongings when they go into foster care. This is the first time they will be sending their “care” packages this far.

The kits will go to children at the recently opened group home in war-torn Sierra Leone capitol of Freetown. While the children have their basics, food, health care, clothing and schooling, covered by Children of the Nations, every child deserves some extras.

Experts who work with children who have experienced the type of trauma many of these children have, say art therapy can be a crucial healing element.

The kits will contain an assortment of colored pencils, Crayons, markers, watercolors, paper and other art supplies. The group hasn’t decided yet how they will package the supplies, but you can bet it will be from the heart.

In addition to the service projects, the group gets together simply to enjoy painting, and learn new techniques.

They meet monthly at the Peace Lutheran Church in Bremerton, and host five evening “Paint-Ins” and at least one national teacher a year. Every other month a member leads a three-hour painting class featuring a fun project.

Tole painting originally referred to decorative painting applied to tin, but the subject has expanded to include anything that can be painted, using a variety of media. Members paint in oil, acrylic, watercolor and pen and ink, in styles ranging from realism to floral and folk art.

“If it holds still we paint it,” Monica Bayness, Tugboat Tolers president, said.

Bayness is a certified “one-stroke” instructor, a traditional technique in which a wide brush is loaded with two or more colors, creating a blended effect with a single brush stroke.

“We try to have a learning experience every month,” she said. “You never know what will be taught so you don’t want to miss a meeting.”

She was excited about an upcoming meeting at which the Scandinavian art of rosemaling would be taught.

The Puget Sound Tugboat Tolers always welcome new members or guests. The next meeting will be held 6:30-8:30 p.m. Jan. 15 at Peace Lutheran Church, 1234 Riddle Rd., Bremerton.

For more information visit www.tugboattolers.com.

For information on Children of the Nations and its projects visit www.cotni.org.