The About Art Gallery is gearing up for the beginning of their ninth year at the Market Place Building, on Midland Road, with a "January Color Sale."

The sale will run from Jan. 3-11, and the artists will be in the gallery from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. to meet visitors, answer questions and demonstrate in their medium.

A portion of all sales will benefit the Sandhills Children's Center, in Southern Pines.

The Sandhills Children's Center, founded more than 40 years ago, emphasizes the role families' involvement and support plays in the success of children with disabilities to reach their full potential. > >

The gallery was originally started by Cele Bryant, who invited several of her friends to begin hanging paintings in an area between what was then the Market Place restaurant and the RSVP Gift Shop. Joan Williams is also one of the original painters, followed by newer participants Nancy Yanchus, Deane Billings, Pamela Swarbrick, Irene Dobson and Caroline Love.

All of the artists are also members of the Artists League of the Sandhills, in Aberdeen.

Joan Williams considers herself a contemporary self-taught painter who gives credit to her high school art teacher for good basic drawing skills. Since moving to this area and discovering the Artists League, she has taken many classes and workshops from both local and nationally recognized instructors.

Williams loves working in oils, using painting knives as well as brushes, and enjoys painting larger than life, striving to keep her subjects bright and dramatic. She particularly enjoys still lifes, florals, landscapes, pets and portraits.

For more than three years Williams has been teaching a class at the Artists League called "Follow the Leader," for both beginning painters and those who haven't painted for a long time. All materials are provided, and step by step demonstration in the painting process results in a completed painting.

Deane Carroll Billings, a native New Englander, was raised in Marblehead, Mass., near the ocean. She recalls the beautiful old New England homes and colorful gardens.

At age 72, Billings' father began painting in watercolors and encouraged her to sign up for her first class in watercolors.

Billings has participated in many workshops and classes with a great variety of teachers, both in New Jersey and at the Artists League of the Sandhills. Her art reflects her interest and love of gardens, flowers, buildings and the New England coast from Maine to Nantucket.

Billings has also found a fascination with zoo animals and has been painting portraits of them in watercolor, capturing their personalities through their wonderful facial expressions. One glimpse and you know they are truly happy creatures!

Irene Dobson was born and raised on Long Island, N.Y. She graduated from the Fashion Institute >in Manhattan. She paints using watercolor or oil as her medium; however, lately she has been using pastels and watercolor together to create rich mixed-media paintings.

Dobson is an instructor at the Artists League and was awarded first place for a mixed media painting at the Absolutely Art judged exhibit in June.

Caroline Love, the newest artist to join the About Art Gallery, is a native of North Carolina. Many of her watercolors reflect her North Carolina heritage and have a strong Andrew Wyeth influence. The rural South, with its weathered tobacco barns, rustic farm buildings and cotton, tobacco and hayfields, inspires much of her work.

Realistic paintings of lighthouses and coastal scenes are also trademark themes. Other signature paintings are various studies of trees: birch, bamboo and sycamore.

"The changing landscapes in North Carolina - from the misty mountains in the West, through the gently rolling Sandhills of the Piedmont, to the splendid coastline and Outer Banks in the East - are remarkable gifts for the artists who live and paint here," says Love.

Pamela Swarbrick was born in South Wales, in a rural farming community, and she believes her love of animals, particularly cows, derives from that time. She and her husband, Jim, immigrated to the U.S. in 1964. Before moving to North Carolina in 1981, they lived in Indiana, Connecticut, New York and California, as well as Australia and the United Kingdom.

Since moving to North Carolina, Swarbrick has developed and expanded her longtime interest in watercolor painting. She uses a lot of color in her work and paints wet on wet so that the paints blend on the paper. For subject matter, she chooses large flowers, still life, abstracts and animals.

Her work has been accepted into numerous juried exhibitions and hangs in business and private collections in both the United Kingdom and the U.S.

Nancy Yanchus is a native of Richmond, Va., and lived in Southern California for more than 10 years, working in the women's fashion industry. Her flair for color and design led her to search out her talents in the arts.

Yanchus currently paints in oils and watercolors and has received awards in oils, acrylics and watercolor categories. She has been a member of the N.C. Watercolor Society for a number of years, and her works may be found in both private and corporate collections throughout the U.S.

"I am continually painting and studying," Yanchus says. "The techniques to learn are endless, but the expression comes from the soul. Painting is a journey."

Quoting a mentor, she adds, "The day you learn how to paint is the day you stop being an artist."

For more information, call Joan Williams at (910) 215-5963. The About Art Gallery, Midland Bistro - Market Place Building is located at 2160 Midland Road, Pinehurst.