If you meet Beverly Jensen walking around Breeze Park, you’ll know right away that she has a creative spark. Displayed on the front of her walker is a custom made “license plate.” This license plate is a painted scene on cloth that she has started changing out based on the season thanks to some friendly teasing from her fellow residents.
“At Christmas, I did a painting with snowmen and birds that had ‘Merry Christmas’ written on it,” said Beverly. “After Christmas, one of my friends here said my ‘license plate’ had expired so I thought I’ll do a simple one for New Year with bells and ‘Happy New Year’ but then after a few weeks they said that one was expired too, so this seems to be a thing!”
Beverly’s walker now displays a winter scene with mountains and a reminder to her friends to be careful this winter.
But there was a time when Beverly thought she might not be able to paint again. Beverly had always drawn, but she got serious about the arts after she drew a family member’s dog. Her husband was so impressed that he encouraged her to take art classes. So, she did. After that first oil painting class at the local high school, Beverly was hooked. She and her husband spent summers in Wisconsin where she took additional classes at the Peninsula Art School and began painting with acrylic paints.
As Beverly got older her arthritis made it hard to hold large paintbrushes. So, she turned to quilting as a creative outlet for several years. Then she moved to Breeze Park, a Lutheran Senior Services Life Plan Community located in Weldon Spring, Missouri. At Breeze Park, Beverly took part in Coloring Club. While at Coloring Club, staff introduced Beverly to gel paint pens and watercolor paint pens and Beverly began painting again.
“It wasn’t until I came to Breeze Park that thanks to Coloring Club that I started with pens,” said Beverly. “The painting pens are really neat.”
In addition to decorating her walker, Beverly creates greeting cards that are available for purchase in the Breeze Park Craft Shop. Breeze Park residents were also treated to viewing Beverly’s work at the Breeze Park Art Show where she displayed several of her paintings she had previously done. Her apartment is decorated with works of her own.
“I absolutely love it here,” said Beverly who moved into Breeze Park in 2021. “It took a little time to really feel like home, but now it is home. We’re like a nice family here.”
To learn more about Breeze Park, including how to set up a tour, visit the Breeze Park web page.