Rita Bingham stands with some of her favorite paintings of her grandchildren.
Rita Bingham likes to use the seasons as a part of her art
A painting of puppies hangs in the art gallery behind Urban Basics.
Over the last few months, a new artist has taken up real estate in the Battle Ground Art Gallery. Rita Bingham, of Amboy, started adding her art to the hallway gallery after meeting up with local artist Anita Will.
“In the past 10 years, I’ve really picked up painting again,” Bingham said. “I’ve always found joy in painting. It’s something I’ve always been able to do and it feels good.”
Bingham started watercoloring about 40 years ago after she took a few classes in the town she was living in at the time.
“I’ve always liked painting,” she said.
After she learned how to watercolor, “life got in the way” and she was unable to find time to keep doing it. Just before Bingham moved back to the Clark County area after living in Oklahoma, she met up with a family friend who told her “painting just changed my life.”
Since then, Bingham has found joy in painting herself.
“Painting definitely changed my life. Bright colors definitely helped,” she said. “I felt that I could just get into painting and just forget about everything else. I’ve always been kind of a workaholic, so this was a good thing for me to just shut things off.”
Through painting, Bingham said she has developed many friendships that have helped her realize how many other people need art.
“Art is more than just looking at something that is beautifully done,” she said. “Art can be abstract.”
Bingham said painting gives her the ability to express herself through art. She said she likes to stick to art that is “more than just something you can buy at Walmart.”
“I like to have different paintings in my home,” she said, adding that she would love to see more art in the community. “I was talking with Anita (Will) and she has so much passion for art in the community.”
Bingham said she and Will have been working together to get more artists in the Battle Ground Art Gallery, which is located at 209 E Main St, Battle Ground.
“Our goal is to get five different (artists) in there,” Bingham said.
She would like the art gallery to have one live painter a week painting in the gallery. Bingham also said she would like to start promoting creativity and art in the area through the gallery.
While art from the gallery is for sale through Battle Ground’s Urban Basics and Company, Bingham said she doesn’t need the money to survive and uses the funds she receives to fund humanitarian aid.
“I donate all the profits I make from my art,” she said.
Her church works with a program that is dedicated to providing clean water to communities in need, she said.
The Battle Ground Art Gallery is open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.
