- December 4, 2025
-
-
Loading
Loading
Since Lakewood Ranch’s Gloria Kaminsky started painting 15 years ago, she sees colors in a different light. Grass is not just green and the sky is not just blue. Instead, the grass is shades of green with hints of browns and yellows. The sky is different shades of blue with glimpses of whites and greys.
“The way the light hits, you just see things differently when you start to paint,” Kaminsky said. “You see the highlights, you see the low lights, you see the sparkle. It's amazing, it really is.”
Kaminsky enjoys traveling, taking photos and then turning the places she has been into oil paintings. Grand Teton National Park, Arches National Park, The first time she took on painting, she sat and painted for four days to capture a city scene of Dubrovnik, Croatia.
“I thought, ‘This is a fluke,’” Kaminsky said. “I just kept painting after that. Now I’ve probably painted 300 paintings since then.”
Sometimes when Kaminsky can’t sleep, she paints instead. She said it calms her down and gets her mind rested.
“You get in the zone, and hours and hours pass, and you don't even realize,” Kaminsky said. “You think you've been there for half an hour and you look and it's been three hours.”
Kaminsky joined LWR Art Club, a Lakewood Ranch Community Activities organization, in 2013. It has been a club for the last 25 years and has 37 members. It provides skilled painters a way to get together and create art and provide critique.
Lakewood Ranch’s Yovanina Wainio has been a member of the club for seven years. She said she is surrounded by smart women who all know different techniques and she learns something new each time they get together.
Wainio said it is important for her to have opinions on her art. After working on a piece for so long, there tend to be mistakes that she might not notice, such as a hand in the wrong place or with too many fingers.
“It’s a special moment for all of us in good times and in bad because we get to listen to each other,” Wainio said.
Wainio is self-taught and has been painting for 45 years. She encourages others to do it if they have any interest. She said you can always paint over it and that there is nothing to lose from giving it a go.
“It might just be about color,” Wainio said. “You don't have to know how to draw an apple. It could be just the contrast of colors that bring your eyes to a bigger piece of artwork.”
Tina Gardner has been part of the club for 20 years and gravitates toward architecture and landscapes. She enjoys incorporating a ruler to utilize angles that attract the viewer’s eyes to go a certain way.
“Watercolor is tough because if you make a mistake, that's it,” Gardner said. “With oil and acrylic, you can paint over everything and start over. You can't do that here. If you make a mistake, you try to correct it or you just get another sheet of paper and start over.”
Donna McIntyre was one of the original members and still is part of the club.
“I always loved art, and my mother was a good artist,” McIntyre said. “I learned at the kitchen table, but never really did a whole lot of art until joining this group. I was always working or too busy.”
Mary Ellen Slenker is the president of LWR Art Club. She was an art teacher for 38 years before moving to Lakewood Ranch. She joined in 2014.
“Ever since kindergarten, all I wanted to do was draw and color, it was just a kid thing,” Slenker said. “As I grew up, that's all I wanted for my birthday was art supplies.”
Slenker said she dabbled in a lot of media as an art teacher but now does mostly watercolor. She estimated 70% of the art they do in the club is watercolor.
Slenker said the LWR Art Club has been doing art shows at ComCenter At Lakewood Ranch for the last six years. Their current show has approximately 60 paintings on display from four artists within the club: Kaminsky, Bill Perry, Marge Williamson and the late Elayne Molbreak. It runs until Oct. 17.
All of the paintings are for sale and benefit the artists. Kaminsky said the paintings are priced between $50 and $1,200, with most in the $200-$500 range.
Molbreak was a member of the club for 20 years but died in April. Slenker said Molbreak was eager to be featured in the show.
“Elayne spread positive energy and joy to everyone around her,” Slenker said. “We all miss her laughter and sense of fun she brought to our group.”
At the discretion of Molbreak’s husband, all proceeds from her paintings will be donated to P. E. O. International (Philanthropic Educational Organization). She was a member of the organization that works to provide educational opportunities to women.
