As the tip of the brush scribbled across the canvases, everyone was excited to make the best pumpkin trio. The host announced the painting would be of three pumpkins on top of each other with a black and white border and a green background. 

The Painting in the Park event was hosted by ULM’s Hawk Art Therapy. The event started at 4 p.m. with around 50 to 60 participants. Huge Halloween decorations with balloons and pumpkins scattered the room. 

Warhawks were expecting the painting event to be held in Bayou Park as the event name implied, but because of the weather, it got moved to the Activity Center. Despite the slight disappointment, the room was teeming with participants that were having fun expressing themselves in paint.

The painting process was punctuated with noise from the basketball court, but this did not deter the participants from reaching in to their inner Picassos. As they walked into the painting room, they deposited their Warhawk ID to get a caddy filled with paint brushes, colors, a water cup and apron. 

Swikrit Bhattarai, freshman computer science major, said his experience at the event exceeded his expectations.

“Even though I only registered for this event because I had some free time, when I started painting, I got deeply immersed in it,” Bhattarai said. 

The concept for the painting event was three stacked pumpkins and the outline was already drawn on the canvases. The students were given five colors to freestyle the painting as much as they wanted. 

Amy Speller, junior radiologic technology student, said even if it was a bit irritating to paint with all the noise, she thoroughly enjoyed herself.

“I have attended three of the painting events already and this is one of the best one I attended. I could see lots of people attending and wonderful paintings,” Speller said. 

For other students like Deepika Shrestha, the noise was a bit distracting.

Shrestha, junior actuarial science major, said although she liked being able to express herself with her painting, the event could  be better. 

“This was my first event, but it was very good,” Shrestha said. “It would be better if it was in a quiet room.”

Even though the event was not what was hoped for, Warhawks enjoyed themselves. The room was filled with chatter as the participants showed each other their pieces of art and shared their inspirations. 

After returning their art supplies, participants took their masterpiece home to remember the day.