You never know what stories might turn up as you begin looking under all of the nooks and crannies of a small town. We did just that, and found a group of would-be artists gathered for an evening of a little painting, a little learning, and a whole lot of socializing.

The painting class has been meeting for three years under the tutelage of renowned local artist Mariel Klingbeil. “The idea was suggested to me by a couple of ladies who had been to a winery where they offered painting classes while you were sipping your wine,” Klingbeil explained. “We started out meeting at Henry’s but the lighting was so poor. I discovered how nice it was here, and this is perfect.”

The “here” she is referring to is the Callaway Legion Club, where the class now meets every second and fourth Tuesday of each month. Klingbeil said she has had as many as 12 in a class. The subject is the same in both classes each month, so it allows the participants to attend whichever night works best for them.

Though she is regarded as a great artist, Klingbeil said she has never taught prior to starting this class. “We talked her into it,” laughed one of the class participants, Shari Sheppard.

“I do enjoy it very much. My biggest problem is figuring out what to do next. We have painted everything from barns, to birds, winter scenes, summer scenes, flowers, still lifes and we even painted a lighthouse,” Klingbeil shared. “I don’t believe anyone who has ever been in my class was a painter prior to this, and I am so proud of them because they have all improved so much. My hope is that eventually some of these gals might take up painting as a hobby.” “She has a lot of patience with us,” Sheppard added with a laugh.

Klingbeil charges $20 per class, which covers the cost of all of the materials. For each month’s class she paints the image herself that she plans to teach the group, “so they have something to reference”.

“I will admit, I struggle with that sometimes. This month I bet I did six of those before I got the one that I really wanted,” Klingbeil said, as she pointed to the painting of a desert sky with cacti which was the subject of the April class.

She paused as she gave instruction and encouragement to her students. Like the winery classes that initially prompted the idea for this one, Klingbeil does note that these are adult painting classes and as such adult beverages are available. Those who wish to attend a class are asked to contact Sheppard to register.

It was Sheppard and a friend who had attended the sip and paint class in Omaha, and brought the idea back to their friend Klingbeil. “It wasn’t really a class, it was more of a fun thing. And we thought it would be fun to involve Mariel and do more,” she explained.

The class was not intended to be just a class for ladies, and Klingbeil encourages men to come too. “We are hoping to get more interest,” she added.

Klingbeil said that art has been a part of her life for as long as she can remember. “I’ve been drawing since I was old enough to hold a crayon,” she said. As she got older she kept painting and mastering her craft, and eventually added bronze sculpting to her resume, though she no longer does much of that due to the expense.

However, Klingbeil has discovered that teaching the subject of painting is much different than actually doing it herself. For example, her class really wanted to paint a windmill, and class member Shelly Griffith explained that ended up being quite an undertaking.

“What I like about her teaching is she will tell us to deconstruct whatever we are painting. When we were doing the windmill she told us all about how windmills are built,” said Griffith.

“This is the hard part, particularly about western pictures,” Klingbeil chimed in. “If you’re painting a fence you have to know how the fence is built in order to portray it accurately. They all wanted to do a windmill in the beginning, and I told them they weren’t ready for a windmill yet,” she added as the class members all laughed and nodded their heads.

While they complete their painting in each week’s class, for the windmill it took two classes to accomplish that. She teaches her students about depth and lighting, two key factors that greatly affect paintings. “In a painting if you emphasize the lighting, it makes the whole painting.”

The class meets at 7 p.m. at the Callaway Legion on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month, which in May will be the 9th and 23rd.