As always, The RAL Art Center Gallery Windows displays the wonderful diversity of artistic talent of its members, and the June Windows will certainly showcase some of the differences in the "more-modern" and the "more-traditional" sides of art featuring artists Debra Bull, Johnny Hayes and Sue Broadway.
Debra Bull is an artist who works in acrylics and oils. Working in a lovely "impressionist - realism" style, she loves to paint the areas around the NNK that provide the raw, natural beauty of the countryside and waterways. When Debra retired here in 2018 her eyes were opened to a love of painting seascapes. She enjoys spending time kayaking to find the hidden beaches here and the simple beauty of life found at the edge of the Chesapeake. Debra discovers images that inspire her to paint scenes that she sees from her unique point of view; the intimate visions of nature that require the viewer to focus on the details of areas that are left untouched by humans.
In college Debra concentrated on Communications Art and Design, then opened her own business, Portfolio Advertising, which she worked successfully for many years. Her final chapter in life has been coming to the NNK and painting the beautiful scenery here. Debra will feature in the Gallery window a painting done of the shoreline of Windmill Point, titled Windmill Point Bayside. This painting is done in a water-soluble oil paint, which gives the painting a wonderful “blended” look of both a watercolor painting, and an oil!
Johnny Hayes joined RAL before he started painting and says that his subsequent journey into art has been wonderful, especially with the camaraderie of fellow artists and art appreciators! He started painting late in retirement, and works in the acrylic medium, with a varied subject matter from still life to landscapes to portraits. Johnny's preferred method of painting is in a flat plane, using lots of unmixed color in a contemporary style. It is easy to see that his favored artists of influence are those such as Matisse and others of note in the contemporary art world.
Johnny says that the reason he likes to paint is not only to be creative, but he finds that it is concurrently relaxing and intellectual. The gallery windows will feature one of his paintings, Lonely Chardonnay, a composition painted from a live model whose expression had a rather forlorn look. The lines, shapes and bold colors in the composition keep it lively, in spite of her lonely face. Johnny has exhibited and won awards in many venues including The Virginia Watercolor Society, The Williamsburg Contemporary Art Center, The Bay School in Mathews, VA, The Virginia Artists’ Show, and he has three paintings in the permanent collection of the Hampton Roads Convention Center.
In our 3-D Art Window we have Sue Broadway, who works in Jewelry Art. Sue has been designing and creating unique jewelry for many years, having studied fashion design in London and also danced professionally in the theater. Sue has been a member of RAL Art Center for over 25 years and started making jewelry around that time. Her creative focus in jewelry-making ranges from beading to working with metal, semi-precious stones and .999 silver clay.
Sue's creations range from formal to casual and many of the necklaces she designs can be worn in a variety of ways. She welcomes special orders and loves designing custom pieces to compliment her client's clothing, including bridal and formal wear. One of the pieces she will have in the window this month is a copper lariat that can be worn in several different ways. The tassel ends are made of semi-precious stones attached with copper wirework to the lariat. Forever pushing her craft to new expressions, she loves creating with abstract forms.
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