Thursday, March 1, 2007 Older Editions

Open studio: Artistic seniors enjoy company while working on their hobby of choice

By April Guilmet

An apple-cheeked toddler smiled from Judy Lin's oil painting. It was a painting of Lin's now college-age granddaughter, Melanie.

"When I was in school, I took art classes. Then I grew up and got married, I just didn't have time," Lin said.

"Now I have time again," she said as she put blue highlights on Melanie's dress.

It was a typical morning at Andover Senior Center's open art studio, where professionals and amateurs alike congregate twice weekly to create their latest masterpieces. The open art studio meets each Wednesday and Thursday morning from 9 to 11:30 a.m. at the Bartlet Street senior center. Last Thursday, nine artists worked on an eclectic array of projects.

Lin's portrait of her granddaughter was one of her first. She said she actually prefers painting landscapes.

"And that's what I do most of the time. This is harder for me," the Andover resident said.

Kathy Katsaris added red oil paint to her painting of blossomed branches in a large vase. She has been working on the painting for nearly a month.

"There's a tree in my backyard with similar branches," she said.

She painted the image from a postcard she'd brought back to Andover from Greece. The blossoms, she said, sparked memories of the Mediterranean.

"These kind of look like almond blossoms. Almond trees are all over Greece," Katsaris said.

Across the table, Frank Sherman held open a book of tranquil New England scenes done by artist Edward Hopper. A former Andover resident who now resides in North Andover, Sherman worked on a color pencil rendition of one Hopper landscape - one he started more than a month or two ago. "I'm just getting back from my sabbatical," he laughed.

When he's not drawing landscapes, Sherman said he's drawn to nautical scenes, particularly ones of tall ships.

"I like working in pencil, particularly," he said, motioning towardsa detailed rendering of a sailing vessel.

Andover resident Lillian Palumbo contemplated her Technicolor oil painting, her interpretation of a similar piece that first caught her eye in American Artist magazine.

"It's my first abstract piece," she said.

Wearing a yellow smock, Palumbo clutched her paintbrush in her left hand, adding highlights with a pink toothbrush. She said she began the painting the previous Saturday, but it was already near completion. "I guess I just got really into it," she said. Though Palumbo has been coming to the art group in her hometown for well over a decade, her artistry isn't limited to her biweekly visits. About 70 of her works grace the walls of her home.

"We just happen to be an exceptionally good group of artists here," she said.

Her friend, Louise Small, agreed as she worked on an oil pastel portrait of a tiger cat, using a picture from a discarded pet calendar. She had a tiger cat of her own many years ago, and tends to favor animal illustrations.

"I've had so many dogs and cats over the years," she said as she put the finishing touches on the feline's whiskers. Small said she attends the art studio pretty much every Wednesday and Thursday.

"We come in and do out own things, our own mediums," Small said.

Making her point, she held up a drawing of a bowl of pears - duplicated from the same Paul Cezanne painting fellow artist Paul Burton was using. Small drew her version with a gray bowl, rather than Burton's purple one.

"I don't do purple bowls," she laughed. "We can all look at the same picture and each see something completely different."

Burton, of Andover, looked up from his still life. "I usually don't do things like this," he said. "But someone asked me to do this painting, they'd like it to hang in their kitchen."

He expects to complete the painting sometime next week, and said he doesn't mind making something special for a loved one.

"Most people don't have actual oil paintings hanging in their homes," said Burton.

For him, painting became his hobby more than a decade ago. Newly retired, he sought an enjoyable pastime to fill his days. He began coming to the art group and enjoys its social aspect.

"Most of the time, we go to lunch or coffee after," Burton said. "This keeps you young, it keeps the mind active," he said, tapping his index finger against his temples.

Harriet Newman sketched a sidewalk scene onto her canvas before picking up her brushes.

"I sketch it out first. Then, if I don't like it, I can change it," she said.

She said she's been painting since her high school days and graduated from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. But her degree isn't in painting. "I have a degree in jewelry-making and silversmithing. But I can't see well enough anymore to do those things. I don't have a studio now. So I paint, instead." Her friends say she's been coming to the center for nearly two decades.

Although she said she's more of a dog person, Bea Pattullo painted a black cat seated near a flower vase. She's been working on the paiting for several weeks now because, unlike some of her friends, Pattullo paints almost exclusively at the senior center, she said.

"I think we come here to be social," she smiled.

Pattullo enjoys quilting at home, and at the center on Mondays.

Lawrence resident Bernie Greenside said he's been coming to the senior center's art studios since 1989. As he worked on an oil painting of former President Bill Clinton and Clinton's daughter, Chelsea, he shared one of the painting's secrets.

"There's another painting underneath. But instead of throwing it away, I'll paint right over it," he said, recounting a tale of Pablo Picasso, who once created a portrait of a friend's girlfriend. "Then Pablo and his friend had a falling out. He painted over the girl," Greenside laughed.

Greenside said he's done about six paintings of the former president so far - and he's already sold several of them.

"Art is funny. You never know what is going to impress a person," Greenside said.

A 1960s graduate of what is now the Art Institute of Boston, Greenside used to work as a graphic artist.

"But graphic art is about doing what someone else wants you to do. Now, I haven't got a boss," he laughed.

His words of wisdom for artists of his age group? "Age has nothing to do with it. If anything, it makes you better, " Greenside said.