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Whiskey Painters of America

The Whiskey Painters (WPA), are a limited membership organization comprised of watercolor artists employing the unique talent to create miniature watercolor art using "barstool" alcohol as the liquid media.

Organized in 1951 by industrial designer Joseph Ferriot (ferry-o), the group maintains the same requirements for membership that Ferriot and the founding members established at its first official gathering at the Tangier Restaurant in Akron, Ohio. One of the founding members that evening was Tony Cross, an Akron, Ohio tool and die maker and Russell Colley, credited as founder of the "space suit." Colley sewed the rubber suit in his basement which was then used by Wiley Post to achieve the high altitude record at the time.

Throughout the 1940's Ferriot had perfected the genre while traveling the country on sales missions for his industrial design company, still operated by his son David at this writing. Carrying tiny brushes, watercolors and strips of paper in a rectangular tin aspirin container, Ferriot amazed bar patrons and tipped waitresses with his small masterpieces, dipping the brushes in his favorite cocktail. Challenging enough as a gendre due to the fast drying action of watercolors, the alcohol speeds the drying even further and creates unusual effects.