Yeah as others said, painting classes in a community centre are a good idea.

But I don’t think it’s good to just do one thing and hope you have friends at the end - I think the trick is to do a bunch of different things and build a network of humans you know.

So in addition, I’d suggest:

Join a left org and get really involved - if you live in a smaller town get involved in orgs that support marginalized communities like the homeless, most of those people are left or radlibs

Get involved in municipal politics (a lot of left folks end up in campaigns for whoever the furthest left candidates/party are)

Join a book club at a library or left book store

Food kitchen

Community gardens?

Work out - the more social the better (running club, soccer team, pick up basketball, bouldering, whatever)

Join in on neighbourhood/community activities, read posters on lamp posts, community bulletin boards, often libraries and community centres have lists of things going on in communities

Board game meet-ups

Take a class at a college/university of there’s one around and you can afford it

Language exchange

Dating apps

Just in general say yes to a lot of stuff, even if it’s something you don’t care about that much.

Becoming detached from a community is really hard to undo and it can be scary, exhausting and make you feel really vulnerable. But putting in the work really pays off, and every new connection you build makes your entire social ecosystem stronger.