It wasn’t exactly the most obvious of career transitions.
After working for decades as an executive at Avery Dennison Office Products, Huntington Beach resident Ray Kubit decided to do a 180 – or maybe just a 150.
Today, rather than provide grownups with ballpoint pens and two-pocket folders, Kubit hands children paint brushes and canvasses.
“So, you see, the two jobs are a little bit related,” he pointed out.
Four years ago, Kubit opened Palette Station in a Tustin strip mall on First Street – where kids drop in to paint, sketch and sculpt.
“I had the itch to do something on my own,” he said.
Palette Station also operates after-school programs on several Tustin Unified elementary campuses.
Tucked inside Larwin Square retail center behind a Big 5, Palette Station boasts the aesthetics of an urban art gallery.
The long, narrow space features hardwood flooring and a high-beamed ceiling. Puffy paper clouds dangle from strings and a hodgepodge of artwork decorates the walls.
If not for the boost from his landlord, Kubit said, he might never have gotten his start-up business started up.
“I applied for a program run by Kimco Realty that helps new businesses,” Kubit said. “Kimco gave me the first year’s base rent free in a space once occupied by a dry cleaner.”
On a recent afternoon, about a dozen youngsters trickled into the studio ready to create. Most chose to fashion figurines out of Model Magic, a clay-like substance.
Rylan McCluskey-Chavez, 7, a home-schooled first-grader, carefully shaped yet another Pokemon character, which he copied from an image on his teacher’s cellphone.
“What is this – like, your 25th?” instructor Kalie Ortiz asked him.
“Pokemon games are cool,” Rylan explained with a shrug.
Tustin Ranch Elementary third-grader Viana Sharif, 8, designed her own blueprint, using colored pencils to illustrate a turtle. Next, she crafted a three-dimensional version, meticulously bespeckling its shell with dark green dots.
“I’ve also made a fox, a dog and a penguin,” Viana said. “Sometimes I play with them, or I just put them on my desk and look at them.”
Meanwhile, Elizabeth Scott, 7, a first-grader at Tustin Memorial Academy, bucked the most popular table to sit alone drawing a bird, patterned after the one on a computer printout.
“I’m copying this bird, but putting in a lot more twigs,” she said, as teacher Gabby Chaires penciled a lesson in flower petals on the white, erasable tabletop.
Kubit, 63, landed on his idea for an art education business when researching niches he potentially could fill.
“Kids don’t get as much art in school anymore,” Kubit said. “I happen to think art is important to a child’s development.”
No, he does not himself possess artistic talents. “I just hire people who do,” Kubit said.
Kubit keeps prices reasonable and classes flexible. Twelve classes, for instance, cost $150. Students do not need to attend on a fixed day. And siblings can trade off.
“I have three grown children and six grandchildren, and I know that no two weeks in a row are the same for them,” Kubit said. “I’m trying to be in step with family life.”
Viana’s mom, Nasim Sharif, appreciates the come-when-you-can philosophy at Palette Station. “They don’t force you to be here at a specific time,” Sharif said. “I couldn’t bring her last week, but I can make it up later.”
Establishing a small business is no walk in the park.
“The first year for any start-up is a slog, when nobody knows about you and nobody cares,” Kubit said.
Some “experiments” have gone better than others. For instance, spring break day camp attracted a lukewarm attendance.
“Tustin, Irvine and Orange school districts all had different weeks off,” Kubit said.
Hosting custom-themed parties has proved to be one of the best marketing tools. That’s how Tustin resident Marielle May discovered Palette Station.
“Zoe was invited to a birthday party here,” May said of her 9-year-old daughter. “She loved it. I ended up enrolling all three of my children.”
The one downside to entertaining 20 excited children at a lively birthday party?
“The mess,” Kubit said. “I’d rather clean up paint than cake frosting any day.”
Palette Station is at 540 E. First St. in Tustin. For more information, go to palettestation.com.
