If you've ever wanted to try your hand at being an artist, this weekend is your chance at Civic Center Park.

As in past years, the 10th annual Art in the Park show, sponsored by the Midwest Artist Association, will feature approximately 20 artists and their work from Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska. But new this year will be "Express Your Artistic Self," where the public can get involved. Brushes and paints will be furnished by the association for visitors to paint what they want on a large canvas. Visitors also may enter a drawing for the finished art, to be held at 4:30 p.m. June 14 (You do not need to be present to win).

"It's going to be very different," says artist Evelyn Jordan Isaacs. "If someone doesn't like what's on there, they can paint something different."

And who knows? There may be a budding artist within you, waiting to bloom. It's never too late to try, says award-winning artist Mary Korneman, the show's featured artist.

"I didn't start (painting) until I retired," she explains. "I have always been attracted to watercolor painting, and when I finally had time to pursue it, I thought I would see if there was any talent or anything I enjoy."

There was, and she has found watercolor allows her to paint one of her favorite subjects: old building materials.

"I'm taken with old objects that had purpose at one time, but don't now," she says.

One of her featured paintings, "McCormick Dearing - out to pasture" is of an old threshing machine she found out in a field full of old equipment in Albany, Kan. Through watercolor, it has become a vibrant new art form.

"People talk to me and say they don't have any talent and can't do that," she says. "But most of them haven't tried. And you don't know until you try."

Art in the Park will run from 4 to 6 p.m. today, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. June 13, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 14. On-site art demonstrations are planned for Saturday.