CONTRIBUTED

Nancy Yanchus will be the featured guest artist for the month of July at the Art at the Market Place Gallery. Paintings exhibited will be oil still life and landscapes.

As a young girl, Yanchus say she enjoyed sketching, and as a young child loved to color -- as evidenced by her using her Crayolas to color a black and white photo of herself displayed in the family living room.

A native of Richmond, Va., Yanchus lived in California for over 10 years and worked in the fashion industry. It was that flair for color and design that encouraged her to experiment with oil painting.

A move to Maine drastically changed her professional life. When she was not busy as a human resources administrator in health care, she was pursuing a business degree from the University of Maine and beginning her formal art training in watercolors. She studied under Phyllis Wicks and Christopher Cart, both recognized watercolorists in the New England area.

Yanchus and her husband, Raymond, retired to Pinehurst in 1997, and her life has taken another turn since she joined the Artists League of the Sandhills in 1998.

"In Pinehurst, my artistic skills have developed extensively from workshops and classes conducted by renowned artists from all areas of the United States -- American expressionist, realist, and abstract artists in watercolor and oil mediums," she says.

Yanchus exhibits at the Artists League in Aberdeen and has shown at the Arts Council of Moore County and the North Carolina State Fair Exhibit, receiving awards in both oils and acrylic categories. She has been a member of the North Carolina Watercolor Society for several years.

"I am continually painting and studying," she says. "The techniques to learn are endless, but the expression comes from the soul. It has been a journey (of work) to reach the point of feeling a piece of my work is truly worth framing. I'm enjoying oils at the present time and find myself in my 'rose period.' It must be the season."

One artist and instructor influential in her painting is Don Andrews, an Alabama watercolorist.

"Andrews teaches you not to be afraid to take risks, explore and to express your individual feeling about a chosen subject," says Yanchus. "To quote Don: 'Painting should always be a struggle. The day we learn how to paint is the day we stop being artists.'"

Yanchus enjoys painting still life and landscapes. She recently studied portrait painting with local artist Bob Way and believes portraits to be her new challenge.

Yanchus' work will be on exhibit through July 31. A "Meet the Artist" demonstrating in oils will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday, July 8. The gallery is located at 2160 Midland Road, Pinehurst, in the Market Place Restaurant Building.