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Date: 9/26/2023
HATFIELD — Before becoming director of the Council on Aging Geralyn Rodgers enjoyed a 17 year career in the arts. When council regular Marion Abrams, a retired art teacher, offered to lead a watercolor painting class at the Senior Center, Rodgers loved the idea.
Now, after a few years of learning and practice, the local seniors have grown so skilled the council is hosting a show of their watercolors. The opening, in the basement of Hatfield Town Hall, will be Friday, Sept. 29, from 2 to 4 p.m.
Rodgers said that a few seniors at the council were old hands at painting, but “for the new people, that haven’t done any of this, to them it’s just surprising that they can do this…They’ve progressed so much. They might not think so, but they really have.”
Rodgers was pleased to host the watercolor class. Working in the arts taught her that making art is a healthy practice. Playing games, painting, shaping a sculpture can improve memory, increase self-esteem and reduce stress. Art class also gives seniors a reason to get out and socialize.
“Art gives us meaning and makes us feel good,” Rodgers said. “When we create art we elevate our mood, we improve our ability to problem solve and open our minds to new ideas.”
Twelve to 18 seniors attend the painting class, with a core group that doesn’t miss a session. Part of the draw for the seniors may be that painting with watercolors induces a relaxed, trance-like state. Judy Lambert, a School Street resident, likened it to meditation.
“The medium of watercolor lends itself to that,” Lambert said. “It’s a magical medium, watercolor is. They say it puts you into the other side of the brain, [but] when you paint…it is almost a meditative state.”
Lambert’s father was a portrait artist. She began painting with oil paints in her thirties, but sees watercolors as an especially helpful practice for quieting the thoughts. The medium is not easy to manipulate. The paint is not always worked with a brush.
“Watercolors have a mind of their own,” Lambert said. “You can put a lot of water and a lot of color on your paper, then move your paper around and it kind of flows into something very special, very magical. Then you can add more color to it and everything blends in…It’s very exciting.”
Another student of watercolor, Jacqueline O’Connell, sees the paint as a demanding taskmaster. The elements that make watercolor so satisfying also make it frustrating and difficult. She too appreciates the calm and quiet of painting with water and color, but doesn’t think she improved much over the years.
“To control better the color blending, I think that one is very important,” O’Connell said. “I’m trying to be a better painter…Sometimes when I look at work I did a few years back, I’m not so sure. There are days when it works and days when it does not.”
The Pleasant View Drive resident concluded, “It’s not always satisfying…because it’s so difficult.”
Abrams, who taught art in schools for 45 years, said she guides the seniors, but doesn’t give them any hard and fast answers to the technical challenges.
“I don’t tell them exactly what to do. They make a lot of choices,” Abrams said. “It’s good to have all that right brain activity.”
The shared challenge of working with a temperamental medium keeps the painters coming back. The painting may be a secondary benefit after the meditative calm of class time. Rodgers praised the painters for their persistence and how much they improved their painting skills. “If they weren’t excited they wouldn’t keep coming back.”
The Senior Art Show will open at 2 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 29 at the Senior Center located in the basement of Hatfield Town Hall.