'Paint with Passion' parties spread message of peace

The first time Leslie Clayborn and Brooke Nelson brought a dozen or so of their friends together for a night of wine, cheese, painting and catharsis — shortly after this year’s election — it was supposed to be a one-time thing.

Instead, Clayborn and Nelson have hosted three gatherings, have at least two more upcoming and have raised more than $1,300 for local charities through their “Paint with Passion” parties.

“I was down in Missoula the day of the election and I was driving back by myself and it was a hard day,” Clayborn said. “I’m a grandma and I had seen something on Facebook, this little video where there are these animals running out of a forest fire and there’s one bird just dropping one drop of water on the fire, and the other animals ask ‘what are you doing?’ And the little bird said ‘I’m doing what I can.’

“I felt real helpless and felt like I needed to do something.”

The approximately two-hour parties are fairly relaxed, with groups of 10 to 15 painting peace signs on cardboard postcards before mailing them out to their friends to, as the invitation states, “brighten their day.” When each painter has completed three to four postcards, the group discusses a cause they are particularly passionate about and collects money for a donation. All guests are encouraged to contribute at least $10 and, with each party raising at least $400, have often given much more.

“I have mailed cardboard postcards for years and we thought, ‘what could we do?’ Besides just paint a painting,” Nelson said.

“The feeling at the end is amazing,” she continued. “A lot of us are new grandparents and it’s kind of scary for us. We just felt, well, we have to do something instead of just complaining all the time and that’s what we came up with.”

The first three parties have chosen to donate to three different groups — Soft Landing, a Missoula nonprofit that assists in refugee resettlement, the American Civil Liberties Union of Montana and the Abbie Shelter in Kalispell.

Clayborn and Nelson ask only that organizers pay for supplies, typically no more than $25. All three parties have been at Clayborn Graphics in Kalispell, the studio of painter and graphic designer James Clayborn, Leslie’s husband.

“We talked about doing a project together and saying ‘let’s have people bring their checkbook,’” Leslie said. “It felt kind of weird but I did it and people were just grateful that they had been invited. We’re just asking them for money and they are so grateful.”

So far, parties have been exclusively groups of women but Nelson said both men and women are welcome. Leslie Clayborn said at least one of the future parties is scheduled at another location, and the pair is hopeful the idea will spread beyond their small group.

“If we keep having them and somebody is there that wants to host that’s great,” Leslie said. “We don’t want to completely shut it down either because it is such a great opportunity. We’re just going to see where it takes us.”

For more information or to schedule a party, email Leslie Clayborn at clayborn@usamontana.com.