Participants paint for a purpose

There is a painting class in a small room in the Community Living Essex County building that is different from many other similar classes.

Artist Brianne Taggart is donating all the money from the classes to people with disabilities in the Essex area.

During the night class, she was teaching participants how to draw a “night forest” using gouache (a type of watercolour).

Taggart has been painting since she was 11 years old and her favourite to paint are wildlife, beaches, sunsets and other natural scenes.

Her classes run each month for one to two hours at a time.

“I started it last March,” she said. “I want to do this class because there are many people around Essex who have disabilities. It is a good thing for people with disabilities and other people to come join in and have a good night and also to learn.”

Nicole Meloche, who works for Community Living Essex County, helped Taggart to run the class this past year. More than 100 people have been benefited from their work.

“I know she has been in painting for a very long time. I became aware of her desire to begin teaching,” said Meloche. “So we got together one day start to talking about it, and we decided that it could probably help a lot of people. It’s very interesting.”

Community Living Essex County provides Taggart a place for the classes every month and Meloche provides support. Some people attended the class several times.

“We definitely know the people are enjoying it. And, in fact, they are coming back ─ there has been a lot word of mouth,” said Meloche.