HARLINGEN — Myrilla Sparhawk, 87, said she has been a member of the Harlingen Art Forum for years.
Her paintings will be featured on Friday at the Harlingen Art Night.
Sparhawk was born in Tucson, Arizona, but has lived all over the country. She has been living in Harlingen for 23 years.
“I grew up in Houston and my son was in Padre and called us and said why didn’t we think of moving down here because there were a lot of retired people,” Sparhawk said.
“We ended up buying a place but I think it’s a terrific place to live, I’m a big fan,” she said.
Drawing has always been one of her favorite pastimes and art was a class she took in high school and college but she said she did not do much painting.
Her husband was in the Air Force and any place she moved arranged an art class for wives. The first one she went to was in Florida and she learned how to do oil painting.
Later on she learned watercolor and when she lived in Abilene she joined an art group. Sparhawk also knows how to do pastel paintings.
She said she is not painting as much as she used to.
“I just finished doing a couple of pastels,” she said.
One of them is a little burro, but acrylics are what she uses the most to paint.
“Every place we’ve gone I always take photographs and then paint it,” she said.
“I’ve met wonderful people and have hardly ever met an artist I didn’t like. I like to cook and decorate and things that require creativity. It’s a part of me and what I’ve always done,” she said.
Her great grandfather went to Paris in the 1850s to paint. Her son is also an artist who does portraits.
The paintings of the sceneries Sparhawk has witnessed among others of her pieces will be featured Friday.
“This place is a very nice thing to have in this town because we don’t have an art museum as such,” she said.
Harlingen Art Night
WHEN: Friday
WHERE: Downtown Harlingen, Jackson St.
