11Not to work, mind you. She thought she’d give them some paper, a palette of bright colors and brushes and turn them loose among the flowers, chickens and assorted farm stuff.
And this idea, conceived by Patty McManus-Huber, grew faster than Jack’s beanstalk. Children and teenagers filled up all 40 slots for Art on a Farm, and on Saturday they swooped in to join three art teachers and a field full of crops, animals and one old green truck.
The youth painting party was hosted by Friends of the Fields, Clallam County’s farmland preservation coalition. McManus-Huber is a board member with connections: Her husband, Nash Huber, leases the Delta Farm off Towne Road in Dungeness.
McManus-Huber was going to get that old farm truck out of the way, but then one of the art teachers at the party protested.
“Not on your life,” said Sequim High School’s Martha Rudersdorf.
Sure enough, artist Kelsey Feten, 16, was inspired to re-create the truck on her canvas. Nearby, her sister Sarah, 17, chose to paint the deep green pond, “because water is really challenging.”
At 11 a.m. Saturday, a new set of artists came onto the farm and went straight for the sunflowers. Linda Markham, 14, and Raven Sharpe, 7, painted side by side, while their mothers Erica and Rosie basked in the sun.
“This is such a great idea, to just let the kids come and paint,” said Susan Barimo, another mother who brought her daughter Sophie, 7, to the Delta Farm. Sophie found inspiration in the geese honking and sauntering across the grass.
“I am thrilled,” McManus-Huber said. “Kids spend a lot of time inside these days.”
She wanted Friends of the Fields to have a non-fundraiser youngsters could get into. So she asked Rudersdorf, Port Angeles High School art teacher Jenny Steelquist and Carrie Rodlend, who teaches art to children in Sequim’s elementary schools, to come out to the Delta Farm too. The teachers volunteered, so the young artists paid just $5 for supplies.
“We gave them the three primary colors, [and] white and brown, and pencil and paper, and they all got to choose their own spot. They received no instruction unless they wanted it,” said Rodlend. “We really wanted it to be their spirit.”
One 8-year-old, Blake Wiker of Sequim, did ask for a little guidance on how to put the grass, pond and Olympic Mountains in perspective. Rodlend showed him on her paper, and then Blake turned his white sheet into a vivid tableau of blue and green.
“This is wonderful,” Rodlend said of the finished work.
Many of the paintings from Saturday’s event will be displayed during September at The Buzz, 128 N. Sequim Ave., and at Friends of the Fields events including the Sept. 27 100-mile Harvest Dinner and farm-tour day Oct. 3.
For information about those outings, visit www.FriendsoftheFields.org or phone 360-683-7750.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
