A group of Parksville artists made a young man's day when they surprised him with the painting of his dreams — literally.
Red is a big fan of art and loves to visit the McMillan Arts Centre with his care worker from Inclusion Parksville.
“We talk about texture and colour and everything and he just would love to be an artist and he told me that he had a dream,” said Annie, who volunteers at the arts centre.
Red also mentioned how he'd always wanted to learn how to play the piano, and a dream he had about doing just that in the forest.
"I wanted to play a piano in the middle of the forest and once I played piano, I wanted all of the animals — and other living things, I wanted them to be together," he said. “I wanted to have that kind of feeling, because it’s kind of my dream to be a pianist."
But since art can be so expensive, Red never expected he would be able to afford to commission the painting he had dreamed, which gave Annie an idea.
“I said, leave it with me, I have this wonderful group of artists. If I approach them and they say yes, maybe that could be a possibility,” she said. “They’re such lovely, lovely women. They’re involved with Grandmothers to Grandmothers and things like that in the community. They’re very giving women.”
The DeCosmos Fine Arts Society painters were moved by the idea and worked together on the painting as a group.
“This is the first collaboration they have done, and they’ve been painting together for years,” Annie said. “They’ve had more fun with it and they could hardly wait to see his face.”
On June 24, Red could hardly believe his eyes when his painting was unveiled, depicting him playing the piano in the woods, surrounded by several forest critters.
