By DEIRDRE PETREE

For The Beachcomber

Midge Grace, whose oil paintings and stained glass art pieces are featured this month at the Senior Center, firmly believes “you should paint for fun, and enjoy what you’re doing.”

Grace, who turned 86 last month “with a blast of a celebration,” as she put it, is gearing up to teach another oil and pastel class from 3:30 to 6 p.m. Thursdays, April 2 to May 28, at the Senior Center.

Grace paints from photographs she’s taken on her travels all over the world and in places where she’s lived.

With portraits, she said, “I like to get a picture where people aren’t looking at the camera and that has lots of highlights and shadows. You get a better feeling of what the person looks like.”

Grace’s teaching philosophy is energetically sounded out as she makes her rounds in the classroom: “Quit while you’re ahead. … You don’t need all those birds flying around up there. … Remember, when signing your painting, that you have to leave room for the frame.”

Grace told another student to “remember also that oil paintings should be viewed from 20 feet away — up close Da Vinci’s pictures look just awful.”

Grace moved to Vashon about two years ago to join her family after 10 years of teaching art at New Mexico Tech in Socorro.

“I appreciate various styles of art and media,” she said. “Landscapes, flowers, portraits, nudes, seasons — I like to paint them all.”

The Midge Grace spring painting class registration fee is $120, which doesn’t include materials. Sign up at Vashon Park District’s Ober Park building or online at www.vashonparkdistrict.org. The class includes a free drop-in workshop one Saturday a month from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

— Deirdre Petree is a member of the Senior Center’s board of directors.